COLUMBIA — For the third time in program history, South Carolina women's basketball has the No. 2 ranked recruiting class.

ESPN released its final rankings for 2026 on May 1, and originally coach Dawn Staley's group was fourth overall but the addition of Oliviyah Edwards pushed the Gamecocks up two spots.

Edwards is a 6-foot-3 five-star forward ranked third in her class. She decommitted from Tennessee on April 7, visited South Carolina on April 14 and committed to the Gamecocks nine days later.

Southern Cal still holds the No. 1 overall spot, driven by Saniyah Hall who is the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2026, followed by No. 5 Sara Okeke.

South Carolina No. 2 in ESPN's final 2026 recruiting class rankings

Before this year, Staley has had four top-two classes, her first No. 1 class in 2019 and another in 2021. She's had two No. 2 recruiting classes in 2014 and 2023.

While Edwards was the main reason why Staley went from the fourth to second best class of recruits this cycle, she wasn't the final piece to the roster.

On April 29, Justine Loubens became the fifth player Staley's class. She is a 6-1 shooting guard from France, who played professionally for La Roche Vendée Basket Club. She's ranked as a four-star by ESPN.

Staley's first 2026 signee was four-star 6-3 forward Kelsi Andrews (No. 30 prospect), then 6-2 five-star Kaeli Wynn (No. 19 prospect), followed by No. 6 prospect Jerzy Robinson, a five-star 6-foot guard.

South Carolina has four top-30 signees with two top-6 and also added Jordan Lee via the transfer portal. She's a 6-foot guard who played two seasons at Texas and was ranked the second-best player in the portal by ESPN.

The Gamecocks were the only SEC women's team to not lose anyone to the transfer portal this offseason.

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: How signing Oliviyah Edwards improved South Carolina's recruit rankings