South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley is working on getting some of her former Gamecocks players back home safely to the United States from their international careers in Israel.
The three-time national championship coach has taken efforts to get her former players — Tiffany Mitchell, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and Destiny Littleton — home amid the recent United States-Israel military strikes against Iran. She first announced her plans on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Saturday, mentioning all three were in “a war zone in Israel.”
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“We are working (on) a plan to get home. Let us pray for our loved ones to return home safely asap!,” Staley wrote on X on Saturday. “Thank you in advance.”
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The three players that Staley mentioned were all a part of South Carolina’s rise to being one of women’s college basketball’s powerhouses at one point in their careers. Mitchell was part of the Gamecocks’ first Final Four team under Staley in 2015, while Herbert Harrison was part of the program’s first national championship in 2017. Both were drafted into the WNBA from South Carolina as top-10 picks.
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Littleton transferred to South Carolina from Texas ahead of the 2020 season, where she’d help the Gamecocks to the SEC tournament title and a Final Four appearance that season. She’d spend two seasons with the Gamecocks before transferring to USC. In a series of posts on her own X account on Saturday, Littleton said she is “safe” in Israel.
“I’m just trying to stay calm,” Littleton added to ESPN on Saturday about the situation. “I really don’t want to even be out here on the streets. I’ll keep you updated.”
In a separate post on Sunday, Staley thanked everyone who has been praying for Mitchell, Herbert Harrigan and Littleton.
“Thank you everyone for praying for our @GamecockWBB players and family members. Please keep them covered in prayer until they are home! Appreciate it!,” Staley wrote.
According to Lulu Kesin of the Greenville News — part of the USA TODAY Network — a spokesperson for South Carolina’s program had no additional information outside of Staley’s most recent post on Sunday.
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South Carolina closes out the regular season on Sunday against No. 18 Kentucky before heading to Greenville for the SEC women’s basketball tournament, where it will be the No. 1 seed once again.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dawn Staley, South Carolina working to get former players back from Israel
