COLUMBIA — Coach Dawn Staley knows how to prepare a college player for the professional level, but she has a different challenge at midseason for South Carolina women’s basketball.
She’s tasked with a reverse preparation method as 6-foot-7 Alicia Tournebize will be playing for the Gamecocks after a professional career in France.
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Tournebize, 18, is in the early stages of getting acclimated to her new team, which comes less than a month after she played her last game with Tango Bourges Basket in France. But comes to the SEC with a few dunks under her belt.
Tournebize was on the bench but not dressed out for South Carolina’s win vs Florida Jan. 4. Staley said she still had paperwork to fill out in order to officially start with the team.
The No. 3 Gamecocks (15-1, 2-0 SEC) have not announced whether Tournebize has practiced with the team yet heading into their next game at Arkansas (11-6, 0-2) on Jan. 8 (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
What Alicia Tournebize’s height brings to South Carolina
Tournebize has shown her dynamic scoring abilities on tape already. She can run the floor but also has crafty post moves in the interior to score through traffic.
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Since Staley already has Madina Okot, a 6-6 center, and Joyce Edwards, a 6-3 forward, Tournebize’s ability to shoot the ball might really threaten defenses and elevate South Carolina’s scoring.
Edwards is averaging 21 points and she’s often double-teamed. Okot’s presence sometimes shifts Edwards just outside the low block, where she’s nailed short jumpers.
If Staley puts Tournebize in with Edwards, defenses will be forced to either double-team Edwards in the post or go single coverage with Tournebize outside.
She can shoot 3-pointers with ease, according to her highlights from 2025 FIBA U18 EuroBasket, and has a soft touch where she doesn’t need to catch insert passes with her back to the basket to score.
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South Carolina’s offense loves to get out and run but also needs to be crisp and fluid in a half-court set. In videos, Tournebize is seen often moving around rather than planting in the paint, and seemingly has a good eye for ball movement and creating offense.
Her apparent versatility will help as Staley works her into the lineup, whether it’s with four guards or if she plays a high-low with another forward/center. On defense, her height will need to disrupt insert passes and post players like Okot does.
Will Alicia Tournebize dunk for South Carolina?
Three years after Ashlyn Watkins recorded the first dunk in South Carolina women’s basketball history, Staley has another player who can dunk.
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According to South Carolina, Tournebize became the first recorded French woman to dunk in a game in September 2024. Then she dunked with two hands in 2025.
What was particularly impressive about her two-handed dunk was how it happened. With a player of her height, it’s not uncommon to sink back closer to the basket. But Tournebize went over the screen near the top of the key to pick off the short pass and steal the ball, which allowed the clear runway to dunk.
Staley’s forwards/centers are active defenders and switch screens often, which places them on sometimes quicker, shorter guards.
Alicia Tournebize comes from a basketball family
Tournebize won’t be the first in her family to play in the United States. Her mom, Isabelle Fijalkowski, played for Colorado before she was drafted into the WNBA in 1997 by the Cleveland Rockers. She played her final game in 1998 then went back to France where she played until 2002.
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According to a video Tango Bourges Basket posted in October, Tournebize said that she comes from a basketball family and began playing when she was 6 years old after watching both her mom and brother play.
Alicia Tournebize stats
Staley noted Jan. 2 that her lack of minutes for Tango Bourges Basket was due to her age, as she was on the younger end of the roster. She did score 12 points in 12 minutes in her first game for the club this season.
For the FIBA U18 EuroBasket team, she averaged a team-high 12 points and 8.9 rebounds.
How to pronounce Alicia Tournebize
Her name is pronounced al-EE-see-uh TOR-nah-beez.
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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: Alicia Tournebize, South Carolina’s new player from height to dunks
