Columbia Celebrates A’ja Wilson, Gamecock Great

What Gamecock Great A’ja Wilson Means to South Carolina

Lo Dreher sat with her roommate at the Copper Beech apartment complex on April 16, 2014, watching ESPNU. A’ja Wilson, the No. 1 high school girls basketball player in the nation, was about five minutes up the road, sitting between her mother Eva and father Roscoe inside the gymnasium at Heathwood Hall. A’ja was the only top-100 prospect yet to announce her commitment before the NCAA regular signing period. Her four finalists were UConn, North Carolina, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

Then USC-student Dreher waited years for this moment, having watched A’ja grow up at various AAU tournaments. As had the rest of Columbia. And the hometown team advanced to final cuts. Oh, the possibilities… Finally, live on ESPNU, A’ja made her decision known. “I will be attending the University of South Carolina,” she said into a microphone.

Words that would change women’s basketball — and the Palmetto State — forever. The gymnasium erupted, as did Dreher and her roommate. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” they cheered, jumping up and down on Dreher’s bed. Through the wall, they heard muffled, joyful screams from their neighbors reacting to the same news. Up the road, A’ja flashed a smile, Eva pumped her fists in jubilation, and Roscoe pulled his daughter in for a kiss on the cheek.

A Symbol of Excellence

A lot has changed in the last 10 years. The Copper Beech complex goes by a different name (first The Southern @1051, then The Rowan). Dreher graduated from South Carolina, as did A’ja. And the 6-foot-4 post player from Hopkins has cemented herself as one of the most dominant women’s basketball players in the world. But one thing remains the same: South Carolina’s love for A’ja, who’ll take the court at Colonial Life Arena for the first time since 2018 Saturday to play a WNBA preseason game with the Las Vegas Aces against the Puerto Rican National Team. Finally, a chance for the South Carolina faithful to see their girl again, live and in person.

A’ja Wilson’s place in South Carolina sports lore

A’ja sat in Colonial Life Arena with her family and over 7,800 other Gamecocks fans for South Carolina’s home game vs. Missouri on Feb. 2, 2014. Countless spectators, Eva remembered —including one near the court holding a giant cardboard cutout of A’ja’s face — wore fluorescent green shirts that read “There’s no place like home” in honor of the top prospect’s official visit to USC. Together they chanted: “We want A’ja!”

The Impact of A’ja Wilson

It wasn’t the first time she heard a college basketball crowd say so. Tennessee fans sang the same tune. Everybody wanted A’ja, as evidenced by the plastic trash can-sized bins full of recruiting letters taking up space in the Wilsons’ home (and still stored in their garage). But something about this visit felt different.

“They really made A’ja feel like she needed to stay home,” Eva told The State. “That everything she needed to get was right here at home.”

Two months and two weeks went by till the day of A’ja’s announcement at Heathwood Hall. The Wilsons sat in the locker room waiting to make their gym entrance, still uninformed as to what A’ja had decided. Eva and Roscoe told A’ja they would not find out where she was headed with the rest of the world. She better tell them now and call all four finalists to let them know, too. A’ja relented, letting them know the news she told her grandmother Hattie Rakes weeks before: A’ja was staying home. But she didn’t want to call UConn, UNC, or Tennessee to deliver the bad news.

So Roscoe called them, while A’ja called Dawn Staley. Staley picked up the phone in her office, where the rest of the coaching staff had gathered to watch A’ja’s announcement on TV. “Hey, coach Staley,” A’