Wilson Collects First-Team All-America Honors From Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina senior forward A’ja Wilson has earned Associated Press First-Team All-America laurels, the organization announced Monday.

Wilson, Carolina’s all-time leading scorer, becomes the seventh player in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to collect three First-Team All-America honors from the Associated Press. She was selected to the publication’s All-America Third Team as a freshman in 2015.

UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson, Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, Louisville’s Asia Durr and Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians rounded out the list of the 2018 AP First-Team All-Americans.

Wilson will face Samuelson and the Huskies in the NCAA Elite Eight Monday night in Albany, N.Y.

The Hopkins, S.C., native has remained a dominant force in her final season at Carolina, ranking in the top 10 nationally in points (7th, 22.5), rebounds (9th, 12.0) and blocks (5th, 3.3) per game. She has reached double-figures in all but one of her 32 games this season, and her 24 double doubles are one away from Carolina’s 40-year old single-season record.

Wilson has delivered when it has mattered most this year, logging 20-point outings in four of Carolina’s six postseason games. The forward guided the Gamecocks to the 2018 SEC Tournament Title after averaging 21.3 points and 10.3 boards during the three-game stretch, and she has recorded a double-double in each of Carolina’s three NCAA Tournament games.

Monday’s NCAA Elite Eight contest between the second-seeded Gamecocks and top-seeded Huskies tips off at 7 p.m. ET at Times Union Center. The game will air on ESPN.

Gamecocks Athletics contributed to this article.