Alicia Tournebize, a 6-foot-4 basketball player from France, is enrolling at South Carolina and will begin playing for coach Dawn Staley this season.
The program announced the news on Dec. 22, explaining that she “will join the team following the holiday break and begin classes at the start of the spring 2026 semester.”
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Tournebize, 18, played for Tango Bourges Basket, a professional basketball club in France. She was seen dunking in multiple games, according to social media.
The No. 3 Gamecocks (12-1) have played with at most 10 players but mostly eight or nine this season, battling illness and injuries. Staley lost star forward to an ACL tear Chloe Kitts in September.
South Carolina closes non-conference play on Dec. 28 (noon ET, SEC Network) before opening SEC play against Alabama on Jan. 1 (2 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
“Alicia has an incredible skill set and basketball IQ,” Staley said in the news release. “She has great touch around the rim, can shoot it out to the 3-point line and is a shot blocker.”
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Her mother Isabelle Fijalkowski played at Colorado and was drafted into the WNBA by the Cleveland Rockets where she played from 1997-98 before returning to play in Europe. Fijalkowski is getting inducted in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026.
Alicia Tournebize will play for South Carolina, Dawn Staley this season
Staley has been in need of depth long before the season officially started.
Ashlyn Watkins announced in July she’s taking the year off instead of returning and then not long after, Kitts got injured. Kitts enrolled early three years ago, joining the 2022-23 team in December 2022 like Tournebize is doing.
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South Carolina signed two recruits out of high school already, Kaeli Wynn and Kelsi Andrews, but Staley said neither will enroll early so it appeared as though she would play a full season with only 10 players until now.
Tournebize will likely work her way into the lineup the same way Adhel Tac and Maryam Dauda have behind starters Madina Okot and Joyce Edwards. Edwards is leading the team with 22 points per game, Okot is averaging 15.6.
South Carolina sits 261st of 359 Division I teams in bench points, averaging 17.0 per game so if Tournebize brings offensive production, it’ll greatly enhance Staley’s depth during conference play.
On her visit, Tournebize went to the South Carolina football game on Nov. 22 with some players and then watched the women’s basketball game on Nov. 23 against Queens.
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She sat behind the bench, similar to where Wynn sat during an exhibition game on her visit in October.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina lands pro Alicia Tournebize for this season’s roster
