South Carolina women’s basketball player Ashlyn Watkins was arrested and charged with assault and battery in the first degree and kidnapping on Saturday morning, according to Richland County court records reviewed by For The Win.
Watkins posted a $30,000 bond and was instructed by the court to have “no direct or indirect contact with the victim,” and to stay at least 1,000 yards away from the alleged victim’s home, work, school and place of worship. The court did grant Watkins – a 6-foot-3 junior who played a key role on the Gamecocks’ undefeated national championship-winning team this past winter – permission to travel out of state for games and practice.
According to The State and the Post & Courier newspapers, South Carolina has a policy in which an automatic suspension is triggered whenever an athlete is arrested.
Court records show that Watkins is set to appear in court again on Oct. 25, 2024, just days before the Gamecocks open their title defense in Las Vegas, Nevada, against Michigan on Nov. 4.
Here’s what we know and what we don’t know.
So far, as of Saturday afternoon, not much. A spokesperson for the university told the State newspaper they are “aware of the situation and continuing to gather information.” The university gave a similar statement to ESPN.
Gamecocks’ coach Dawn Staley, known to be active on social media, has yet to make a comment through her own channels or the university.
According to warrants filed by the University of South Carolina Police Department that were obtained by the State newspaper and TV station WLTX, Watkins is accused of “forcefully grabbing (the victim’s) face, pulling her by her arms, and pushing her” and grabbing “the victim’s head and forced her to walk down the hall, thus controlling her movement while preventing her from leaving.”
The alleged victim, according to the warrant, got away from Watkins and pulled a fire alarm, prompting police to arrive. The victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the Post & Courier, the incident occurred at 650 Lincoln Street which is a student housing residence where all Gamecocks basketball players live.
We don’t yet know if Watkins will be suspended, kicked off the team or face any punishment at all from her arrest and the allegations that prompted it. We also don’t know what sort of relationship Watkins had with the victim or who the victim is.
A forward for the South Carolina women’s basketball team, Watkins played an integral role in helping the Gamecocks go undefeated in the 2023-24 season, which concluded with them winning their third national championship, beating Caitlin Clark and Iowa in Cleveland, Ohio. Watkins’ play was incredibly crucial in the Final Four, where she grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds and scored eight points in a win over N.C. State.
Watkins averaged 9.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game as a sophomore and was due for an even bigger role this year with former frontcourt mate Kamilla Cardoso leaving South Carolina for the WNBA.
She played her high school basketball at Columbia, South Carolina’s Cardinal Newman School where she became the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022 and rose to No. 12 on ESPN’s recruiting rankings.
