When Ta’Niya Latson unfortunately hurt her ankle on December 28, South Carolina’s season took an unexpected turn. The star guard scored 16.9 points per game, the second most on the No. 3 Gamecocks. Now, this is a test that Dawn Staley did not see coming. Would her team fall apart without their second-best scorer, or could this injury bring out hidden talent that has been waiting for a chance?

Before Latson got hurt, South Carolina depended too much on five starters. Then, the forced shake-up has shown a silver lining: bench players are finally stepping up when it counts. Even Staley herself agreed to the same after South Carolina’s 93-58 win over Arkansas on the road on January 8.

“Our bench has developed over the past couple of weeks. We’re seeing it a little bit more now because we have an injury. I think Maddy McDaniel and Agot Makeer are doing a really great job.”

South Carolina has historically been better at scoring in reserve.

Last season, the program led the country in points off the bench, averaging 40.3 per game. This year, it seemed like that standard was impossible to reach until the need for change arose.

Makeer had to start against Arkansas and scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. McDaniel had the most assists on the team with six. In three straight SEC games, Makeer has averaged 7.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 24 minutes. This is a big jump from her average of 6.3 points in nine non-conference games.

Dawn Staley discussed more than just individual stats. She talked about the intangible quality that both guards brought to the floor: their reliability because they knew their roles.

Staley told McDaniel and Makeer, “Great job on both sides of the basketball.”

“Just predictable—you want the people coming off the bench to know what they’re going to give.”

This predictability goes beyond their own games.

In South Carolina’s last three games, both guards have scored 39 points and made 26 assists, which helped Joyce Edwards and Tessa Johnson score significant points.

Surprisingly, South Carolina got stronger after Latson got hurt. Joyce Edwards scored 22 points, and Tessa Johnson added 19, hitting 48 percent of her three-point shots. With several players who can score now stepping up, the Gamecocks have found a balanced offense that could be deadly against tougher opponents in the future.

How Dawn Staley turned South Carolina’s bench into a winning strength

After a close game against Florida, the Gamecocks changed things up and came out firing from the first whistle. They shot more than 51% and stayed aggressive the whole time, showing that their balanced attack works against any opponent.

Edwards scored 22 points in only 25 minutes, and Johnson bounced back from her problems in Florida with 19 points on great shooting.

“It’s called growing up and maturing. You learn to play good basketball, make good decisions, what’s a good shot or a bad shot. You play the percentages, for us, if you shoot over 50%, you can take any kind of shot,” Staley noted about Edwards and Johnson.

The first quarter set the tone.

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South Carolina scored 29 points on great shooting, their best SEC quarter of the year. They scored 28 more points in the third quarter, which crushed any hope Arkansas had. The Razorbacks fell apart because they turned the ball over and missed shots.

Referring to their success, Staley exclaimed, “We did what we needed to do from an offensive standpoint. We got out in transition and made some layups early.”

The last stat tells the whole story: South Carolina scored 30 points off of Arkansas’s mistakes while making fewer of their own. They scored 48 points in the paint, which gave them control.

This performance showed that Latson’s injury hasn’t hurt the Gamecocks; in fact, it has made them more dangerous with more scoring threats ready to take advantage of opportunities.