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South Carolina signee Ayla McDowell's HS coach gets candid on developing her leadership: "Everything that went wrong in practice was her fault"

Modified May 16, 2025 11:16 GMT

Heading to the South Carolina Gamecocks next season, Ayla McDowell finished her high school basketball career at Cypress Springs in Cypress, TX. However, much credit goes to her high school basketball coach, Taneisha Rogers.

According to Greenville News, McDowell received the push she needed from Rogers, who used to wake her up at 5:00 a.m. and ask her to make 20 consecutive shots from the charity stripe and shoot above 50% from behind the arc.

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South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley played as a point guard for the Virginia Cavaliers from 1988 to 1992, setting the NCAA record for steals, the school record for points, and the ACC record for assists.

In March, Staley emphasized how important the role of a point guard is and how it affects the skill set of the other four players on the court. While McDowell is not a point guard, Rogers gave her a challenge when she was in her sophomore year, realizing how much Dawn Staley values vocal players.

"Everything that went wrong in practice was her fault, and I told her that," Rogers said via GreenvilleNews.com in an attempt to enhance McDowell's vocal leadership.

"That made her kind of take a more vocal approach to being a leader," Rogers added. "I think that along with her natural God-given talent it's gonna help her be ready for the next level. I think she'll be an immediate impact."

Rogers' attempts bore fruit with McDowell now being ranked 25th nationally, eighth in the small forward position and second in Texas, according to On3's Industry Rankings. She also commended Ayla McDowell's offensive prowess:

"She's just an elite-level wing who can score at all three levels," Rogers said. "So it's extremely hard to scout what she does, because she can kind of play all over the floor."

She led the Panthers to a 30-4 overall record and an unbeaten 14-0 record in the Texas Region II 6A Region II District 16 Basketball League.

Ayla McDowell helps Team West to a win at McDonald's All-American Game

Ayla McDowell was accompanied by other top recruits, including the Oklahoma Sooners commit Aaliyah Chavez, USC Trojans signee Jazzy Davidson and UCLA Bruins signee Sienna Betts in the West team at the McDonald's All-American Game on Apr. 2.

She scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, including 2-for-2 from behind the arc and dished out two assists in 15:11 minutes.

McDowell will join five-star small forward Agot Makeer next season in South Carolina.

About the author

Pranav Khatri is a high school sports journalist at Sportskeeda with a Master's in Sports Management and five years of experience in the field working with InsideSport, EssentiallySports, TwelfthManTimes, SportSavour, GeeksforGeeks.

Pranav is a football and basketball fan, and played both in college. He got into basketball and became a Dallas Mavericks fan due to Dirk Nowitzki's loyalty. His favorite NBA moment was Dallas defeating winning the championship, and their journey to the finals through the Lakers and OKC.

When not watching or writing about sports, Pranav runs a fashion jewelry business.

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