Defending national champion South Carolina is practicing without forward Ashlyn Watkins, who remains suspended following her Aug. 31 arrest.
“The status is still the same,” head coach Dawn Staley said Tuesday, the day after the Gamecocks’ first official team practice. “Nothing has moved yet. We’re not going to move until the situation changes.”
Watkins was charged with first-degree assault and kidnapping following an incident at a student housing and retail center. The arrest triggered an automatic team suspension under athletic department policy.
Watkins, a 6-foot-3 junior, averaged 9.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in 38 games last season for the undefeated national champions.
The Columbia, S.C., native is due to appear in Richland County court on Oct. 25, less than two weeks before South Carolina opens the season against Michigan on Nov. 4 in Las Vegas.
Per her arrest warrant, she allegedly picked up the individual and carried her without her consent, then “grabbed the victim’s head and forced her to walk down the hall, thus controlling her movement while preventing her from leaving.”
This came after Watkins allegedly assaulted the individual by “forcefully grabbing her face, pulling her by her arms, and pushing her.” The individual was later treated for non-life-threatening injuries after allegedly escaping and pulling a fire alarm.
Watkins was released on a $30,000 personal recognizance bond.
“We believe once everybody has a full grasp of what happened, this will end up being a misunderstanding,” Watkins’ lawyer Todd Rutherford told WLTX earlier this month. “What we know for certain is that Ashlyn did not assault anyone and she did not kidnap anyone.”
–Field Level Media