South Carolina women’s basketball will go without senior sensation Chloe Kitts as it seeks a return to the national title game.
The South Carolina Gamecocks will have to go without one of their high-flyers this season.
The women’s basketball program announced on Monday that forward Chloe Kitts will be lost for the season after tearing her ACL. Kitts, 21, was set to enter her senior campaign and has been a mainstay in the Gamecocks’ starting five over the last two tours.
“While this isn’t how I expected my senior season would go, I’m trusting God’s timing and purpose,” Kitts said in a post thanking well-wishers on her social channels. “I’ll continue to lead, support, and push my team from the sidelines. We have big things ahead!”
Kitts was expected to play a big role in South Carolina’s quest to return to the NCAA Women’s Basketball national championship game. Signing on in Columbia as a five-star recruit out of DME Academy, Kitts leaped into the starting five during her sophomore season and notably earned a double-double in the Gamecocks’ most recent national championship win over Iowa in 2024.
She averaged 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds in 38 showings last year, ranking in the SEC’s top 10 in total rebounds in both the offensive and defensive subgenres. During the SEC Tournament, Kitts upped her scoring to 16.7 points while shooting over 74 percent from the field as USC took home the title for the third straight season.
Dawn Staley on Kitts’ ACL Injury: ” We Hate This for Chloe”
Kitts earned the event’s MVP honor for her efforts, following in the footsteps of fellow accomplished Gamecocks like Aliyah Boston, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, and A’ja Wilson. She had been projected as a mid-to-late first-round pick in several 2026 WNBA mock drafts.
“We hate this first for Chloe, who has worked incredibly hard to become the best version of herself on the court this season,” longtime South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said in a statement from the program. “Her teammates are capable of stepping up, and I know that her competitive fire and tenacity will be felt from the sidelines as she pours what she can into them to ensure our team’s success.”
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To Staley’s point, South Carolina does carry a good bit of potent talent on its roster despite losing Kitts, WNBA rookie standout Te-Hina Paopao, and LSU-bound MiLaysia Fulwiley, Kitts’ fellow SEC tourney MVP. While losing Fulwiley to the transfer portal, the Gamecocks did obtain the nation’s leading scorer, Ta’Niya Latson, from Florida State, and Kenyan-born standout Madina Okot from Mississippi State.
Earlier this month, the Gamecocks got to shore up their post-game by adding four-star recruit Kelsi Andrews from the Class of 2026.
In terms of who replaces Kitts, a major opportunity surfaces for similarly built sophomore Joyce Edwards, a sixth woman who led South Carolina in scoring as a freshman with 12.7 points per game. For those efforts and more, the Gatorade National Player of the Year and McDonald’s All-American Game MVP joined Boston and Wilson as the only USC freshmen to earn first-team All-SEC honors.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
