How Maryam Dauda impacts Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks as ‘consummate teammate’
When Maryam Dauda’s teammates hear her name, an immovable grin immediately appears on their faces.
Ask South Carolina forward Joyce Edwards what Dauda means to her, and the typically nonchalant star can’t help but smile.
“That’s my girl,” Edwards told The State. “I love her so much.”
That sort of reaction is typical in the South Carolina locker room from players and coaches alike. And the reception is part of why Dauda, a 6-foot-4 senior, has described her two years at South Carolina as nothing short of amazing.
“From start to finish coming here, being timid and everything. Obviously, the fans were there for me, and my teammates were there for me from the jump, and then my coaches,” Dauda said. “They put me where I’m supposed to be every game, every practice and every day. So I’m just happy that I made the decision to come here.”
When Dauda transferred from Arkansas to South Carolina before last season, she left her home state and a program where she was getting more opportunities to play.
While her on-court action with the Gamecocks has been inconsistent at best, she’s finding meaningful ways to impact Staley’s program.
From Arkansas to South Carolina
Dauda — who was a McDonald’s All-American out of Bentonville High School in Bentonville, Arkansas — initially chose to stay close to home to start her college career and play for the then-head coach Mike Neighbors and the Razorbacks just 30 minutes south of her hometown.
During her freshman year with the Razorbacks, Dauda played an average of 11 minutes in 35 appearances and scored 3.5 points per game. Dauda’s playing time shot up in her sophomore year. She started all 33 games she played in for the Razorbacks and averaged a career-high 10.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. Dauda led the SEC with 2.8 blocks in conference play that season.
Ahead of her junior season, Dauda sought greener pastures and ultimately transferred to South Carolina. During her two seasons with the Gamecocks, she’s mainly been a bench player who Staley calls upon for spot minutes here and there.
And no, she doesn’t regret her decision to transfer.
“Absolutely not. The second I got here, I knew I made the right decision,” Dauda said. “I was just like, if my turn comes, I’ve always got to be ready to go in. So I never doubted my decision [for] one second. I’m just glad to be here.”
Last season, she averaged 6.4 minutes in 34 appearances with the Gamecocks. That’s up to 11.5 minutes per game this year.
Dauda averaged a career-low two points and 1.9 rebounds per game last year but has seen those numbers tick up a bit. This season she’s averaging 2.8 points and three rebounds.
“Say what you want, this young woman has accepted her role and has flourished in it,” South Carolina associate head coach Lisa Boyer told The State. “She’s taken advantage of the opportunities that were given to her, and we’ve needed her. She’s come up big.
“It may not show up on a stat, but she gets a stop, she gets a rebound, like a key rebound and the team knows it — I don’t know if the general public realizes it. She comes to play and she comes to win, and she’s going to do whatever and help this team win. That’s a gift in itself.”
A ‘consummate teammate’ for the Gamecocks
Although Dauda’s numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, she still finds a way to impact the game.
“She’s gonna do whatever it is that’s needed to help this team win,” Boyer said. “Whether that be coming off the bench, whether that’s cheering from the bench, whether that’s sometimes having to play a practice player. She’s a very mature young woman, and she gets it too.”
Dauda has found a way to help the Gamecocks in her spot minutes down the stretch this season, especially with the depth of the post players being depleted with Adhel Tac missing time since mid-February.
During the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Dauda played 17 minutes and recorded five points and three rebounds. Against LSU in the semifinals, Dauda provided eight minutes down the stretch. It may not seem like much, but she was able to record her only offensive rebound and bucket of the game at the start of the fourth quarter.
It was a small play that helped start the momentum swing back to South Carolina.
“I didn’t really have the best first half, and I just knew that, like I had to leave that behind me and go into the second half, new quarter, new everything, and just go out there and do the little things,” Dauda said. “I’m glad I got the huge rebound to finish the basket.”
Other instances of Dauda’s impact came last year while South Carolina was trying to keep its season alive. Dauda played a pivotal role on defense against Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament semis and had a season-high 16 minutes against Texas in the Final Four.
“She’s been great,” Edwards said. “You see her put back, her offensive rebounding, even her defensive rebounding, she does all the little things that just help us win. I feel like a lot of people don’t necessarily see it because she doesn’t get as much minutes, but every time she gets in, she’s ready to play.”
Dauda scored eight points during South Carolina’s senior night win over Missouri last month. After the game, veteran point guard Raven Johnson said Dauda’s choice to turn down the opportunity to score more was indicative of the kind of teammate she is.
“It’s more than just basketball with Maryam,” Johnson said. “She wants to see others eat. Like the last shot, we tried to get her a shot out there. She said, ‘It’s OK, I don’t want it.’ It’s things like that. She’ll give up her last meal for somebody else. So it’s things like that that you need in a program like this, because that stuff is contagious.”
Staley has described Dauda as the “greatest teammate.” There have been times this season where Dauda has practiced with the Highlighters — USC’s male practice squad — and Staley credited Dauda for not taking it as a demotion. Rather, Dauda took it as an opportunity to get better.
“I have to credit Maryam with just being a high character individual,” Staley said. “Super competitive and just being probably the greatest teammate. Through not playing, through being a senior, she’s never packed it in. She’s always come to play.”
Staley also emphasized Dauda’s impact off the court in recruiting. Dauda’s happy-go-lucky personality has made her such an effective recruiting tool that Staley said she’d hire Dauda once her college playing days are over.
Dauda told The State she’s unsure if coaching is in her future. If the opportunity to come back to help USC is there, she said, she would “obviously take it.”
Regardless, the high praise from her coach means a lot, Dauda said.
“Probably every recruit over the past two years that we’ve had come into our program, Maryam has impacted,” Staley said. “So it’s not just who she is, it’s her contributions to our program. I know she probably wants to contribute a lot more from a basketball standpoint, but what she’s done off the court is unmatched. ... I would hire her, probably quicker than I will hire someone that probably plays 30 minutes a game.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 10:13 AM with the headline "How Maryam Dauda impacts Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks as ‘consummate teammate’."
