South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao is an underrated two-way player, and now she’s headed to the WNBA.
The Gamecocks guard was selected by the Atlanta Dream with the No. 18 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft.
The 5-foot-9 California native had many accolades to her name before arriving in Columbia, South Carolina. As a high school athlete, she was a McDonald’s All-American and named the California Gatorade Player of the Year in 2020. Paopao also spent three seasons at Oregon where she earned two All Pac-12 First Team nods. With the Ducks, she averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 assists per game her entire tenure and led the team in 3-point scoring (42.4 percent) during her junior season, good for fourth in the conference.
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Under South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, the 22-year-old took a significant developmental leap. During the Gamecocks’ undefeated 2023-2024 championship season, she led the nation in 3-point percentage (46.8) and made the most 3-point field goals in a single NCAA tournament (14). That same season, Paopao was also on the All-SEC Second Team and landed in the South Carolina record books with 87 made 3-point shots, good for third in program history and the fourth-best assist-to-turnover ratio during SEC games (2.7).
However, for as great as the Gamecocks guard is as a scorer, her defensive chops also deserve recognition. “I don’t think her defense gets enough credit in the past two years that she’s been with us because it’s gotten better and better and better …” Staley said of Paopao in March after a career-high four blocks plus two steals against Indiana. Days later, during a matchup against Texas, the South Carolina coach praised Paopao again.“Her defense has come a long way,” Staley explained. “She chose to come to South Carolina for these moments …”
Te-Hina Paopao’s career stats
Here’s what Paopao averaged in 153 career games. Her stats from the 2024-2025 season at South Carolina are in parenthesis.
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Points per game: 11.4 (9.4 PPG)
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Rebounds per game: 3.3 (2.7 RPG)
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Assists per game: 3.4 (2.8 APG)
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Steals per game: 1.1 (1.1 SPG)
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Field goal percentage: 43.4 (44.4%)
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Three-point percentage: 40.0 (37%)
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Free-throw percentage: 83.6 (73.7%)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Te-Hina Paopao is 2025 WNBA Draft No. 18 pick by Atlanta Dream
