Two future Gamecocks, South Carolina natives selected to McDonald’s All-American game

Two South Carolina natives and future Gamecocks women’s basketball players were named McDonald’s All-Americans on Tuesday.

Ashlyn Watkins (Cardinal Newman in Columbia) and Talaysia Cooper (East Clarendon in Turbeville) were selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American game, which features high school basketball stars from across the country. The game will be played March 29 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, home to the reigning WNBA champion Chicago Sky.

Watkins and Cooper are the fourth and fifth players from South Carolina picked for the girls’ game, which began in 2002. They join Spring Valley’s Xylina McDaniel (2012), Dutch Fork’s Alaina Coates (2013) and Heathwood Hall’s A’ja Wilson (2014).

Watkins is averaging 20.3 points and 14.8 per game as a senior at Cardinal Newman, according to MaxPreps. The 6-foot-3 Columbia native is a five-star prospect and ranked the No. 12 player and No. 4 post player in the class of 2022 on espnW.

Cooper, a 6-foot point guard, is ranked No. 4 at her position and the No. 18 overall prospect in the class of 2022, according to espnW. She is averaging 27.1 points, 14.3 rebounds 9 assists, 4.8 steals and 3.7 blocks per game.

Cooper is closing in on 3,000 points scored for her career.

Watkins and Cooper will join a slew of former McDonald’s All-Americans on next year’s Gamecocks squad. This season’s South Carolina roster features 11 McDonald’s All-Americans, including the four freshmen who made up last year’s top-ranked recruiting class.

Locally, Blythewood native Julian Phillips was picked for the boys’ game. He is the 13th player from South Carolina and first since Zion Williamson (2019) picked for the game, which started in 1977.

Phillips was a three-time all-state selection at Blythewood before transferring to Link Academy in Missouri for his senior year. ESPN ranks Phillips as the 11th-best prospect in the country for Class of 2022. He signed with LSU in November.