According to a report from On3’s Talia Goodman, next year, South Carolina women’s basketball will play in the Players Era Women’s Championship. The Women’s Championship will be a new event in women’s basketball and will follow in the footsteps of the recent men’s version of the same event.

The 2025 Women’s Championship will feature the South Carolina Gamecocks, UCLA Bruins, Duke Blue Devils, and Texas Longhorns. Each program will receive at least $1 Million in NIL money for participating. The event is expected to take place during Thanksgiving week in 2025.

South Carolina womens basketball coach Dawn Staley cutting the nets after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the National Championship. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Las Vegas-based tournament will feature a round-robin style of play. That means each prominent program will get three games against the other top teams. The champions will earn their crown based on head-to-head record in those games, and several tie-breakers also will be put in place to avoid split titles.

Goodman’s story featured the below quote from South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley:

“We’re excited to be among the first women’s teams invited to play in the Players Era Women’s Championship,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “This innovative event brings together everything we’re looking for – quality games early in the season, a great location for fans to come and enjoy, and NIL opportunities for our players.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s basketball is one of four teams selected to participate in the Players Era Women’s Championship in 2025, Players Era, an EverWonder Studio company, announced today. The tournament, which also includes UCLA, Duke, and Texas, is an opportunity for athletes to engage in at least $1 million of NIL activities for Players Era and its sponsors outside of competition.

Following the groundbreaking and successful launch of the men’s Players Era Festival in 2024, the Women’s Championship will take place in Las Vegas over three days during Thanksgiving Week and coincide with next year’s Players Era Men’s Championship. The round robin format ensures three marquee matchups for each team with an overall champion determined by head-to-head record, then a series of tiebreakers including point differential, points scored and points allowed.

“We’re excited to be among the first women’s teams invited to play in the Players Era Women’s Championship, South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said. “This innovative event brings together everything we’re looking for – quality games early in the season, a great location for fans to come and enjoy, and NIL opportunities for our players.”

The Players Era Women’s Championship is the second event for Players Era, a groundbreaking college basketball initiative aimed at captivating fans and providing college athletes with opportunities to engage in unique name, image, and likeness (NIL) activities.

“Players Era is creating the first-ever tentpole women’s college basketball MTE with an unbelievably loaded field and fascinating storylines, early season matchups that are sure to set the tone for the rest of the season,” Players Era CEO Seth Berger said. “Our women’s championship includes the same level of guaranteed NIL opportunities for the players as the men’s championship. Women’s college basketball continues to drive an unprecedented level of excitement and engagement, and this incredible lineup with four national championship contenders is going to transform what’s possible for women’s college basketball early-season competition and is going to be one of the most anticipated sports events of the year.”

South Carolina is back in action this week, closing out its pre-holiday schedule with a noon tipoff on Thu., Dec. 19, against Charleston Southern at Colonial Life Arena.

Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts (@GamecockWBB) for more information on the program.

South Carolina women’s basketball moves up again in AP rankings

South Carolina women’s basketball guard Tessa Johnson. Photo by: Jeff Blake | USA Today Sports

On Monday, South Carolina women’s basketball moved up to the No. 2 spot in the AP rankings. Having dropped to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll following their loss to UCLA in November, the Gamecocks moved up just one spot over the previous three weeks despite dominating three top-15 teams since the defeat. Now, after a win over South Florida this weekend, USC is No. 2.

The move up comes, in part, thanks to a loss from the previously undefeated UConn Huskies. UConn dropped a road contest to the top-10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

South Carolina earned a 1st place vote this week, as well. That vote matches up with the Gamecocks’ No. 1 spot in the NET rankings.

You can check out the entire updated AP top 25 below (1st place votes in parentheses):

UCLA Bruins (30)
South Carolina Gamecocks (1)
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1)
UConn Huskies
LSU Tigers
Texas Longhorns
Southern Cal Trojans
Maryland Terrapins
Duke Blue Devils
Oklahoma Sooners
Ohio State Buckeyes
TCU Horned Frogs
Kansas State Wildcats
West Virginia Mountaineers
Michigan State Spartans
Kentucky Wildcats
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Tennessee Lady Volunteers
North Carolina Tar Heels
Michigan Wolverines
NC State Wolfpack
Iowa Hawkeyes
Nebraska Cornhuskers
California Golden Bears
Ole Miss Rebels

Next up for South Carolina women’s basketball is a home game against Charleston Southern. The Thursday, December 19th contest will be at Colonial Life Arena at Noon. The game will be available via streaming on SEC Network+.