The journey of
Joyce Edwards will always have its roots in
Camden (S.C.).
The basketball standout and multi-sport athlete is headed to play for coach Dawn Staley and the reigning national champions at the University of South Carolina.
During the past four years, however, Edwards has built a legacy in Camden that stands so tall the school created an award, the Order of the Bulldog, to fully honor her accomplishments.
The three-sport sensation again towered over the competition in volleyball, basketball and soccer, earning countless accolades, including MaxPreps All-American honors on the hardwood.
Joyce Edwards joins a list of basketball stars to win MaxPreps Female Athlete of the Year honors that includes Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Paige Bueckers and Kiki Rice. (Photo: Becca Rouse)
Edwards caps her four-year Camden career being named the MaxPreps Female National Athlete of the Year for the second time. She joins Olympian Missy Franklin and WNBA star Alissa Pili as the only two-time honorees.
"She's destined for greatness in anything she does," Staley said of Edwards. "It won't be enough for her to check off basketball accolades. We will have our hands full in helping her fulfill all the things she wants to do in life."
Edwards said it's surreal to be mentioned alongside Franklin and Pili.
"To be in the same category as those amazing athletes is humbling," she said.
After moving to South Carolina at age 9, Edwards immersed herself in sports.
"I didn't have a season where I wasn't playing something," Edwards said. "It would be kind of awkward to have no sports."
So she played. And played. And played.
As her basketball prowess developed, she played with different club teams but always returned home to Camden for high school.
"Camden is like my family," she said.
And she's stuck with that Camden family in an age where the transfer portal has become part of the sports vernacular.
"I knew I couldn't leave them," Edwards said, acknowledging basketball academies had come calling.
Her mother, Rasheedah, said Joyce has had the best of both worlds.
"She's played against all this (great) competition, but she's still able to come back to Camden and be Joyce," Rasheedah Edwards said. "She has that foundational commitment."
And it's that steadfast loyalty that, in part, drew Staley to pursue Edwards to play in-state for the Gamecocks.
"That's a testament to who the family is, loyal," Staley said.
Edwards averaged 31.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game for Camden this year while also maintaining a 5.109 grade point average. (Photo: Becca Rouse)
Staley's ability to connect with the family and help tailor the educational component is what ultimately led Edwards to commit to the national champions.
"She (Staley) was the most vested coach in making sure what Joyce wanted and needed," Rasheedah Edwards said.
Joyce Edwards backed up her decorated junior year with a senior season for the ages.
She led the 26-5 Camden volleyball team in kills with 215, scored 45 goals for the 18-5 soccer team and led the basketball team to its second straight state title. She averaged 31.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game as the Bulldogs went 28-2.
"Whatever sport she plays seems like her natural sport," Staley said.
Edwards was the co-MVP at the McDonald's All American game and will again represent USA Basketball on the U18 team in July at the FIBA Women's AmeriCup.
And Edwards outperformed her athletic exploits in the classroom, carrying a 5.109 grade point average.
"I think Joyce is more college ready than a lot of our former top players in the country," Staley said. "The amount of things that she does with her day and season - three sports, one of the top in her class.
"She's prepared for every challenge that's in front of her."
And that, the national championship coach said, includes stepping into the rotation for the Gamecocks.
"I think she'll have some transition, but she's a quick learner," Staley said. "We're going to put a lot on her plate because she's the kind of person that can handle that."
Edwards knows going from Camden to Columbia will present its challenges but said she is ready for the task.
"My hope would be for the team to win a (second) natty whether that's me sitting on the bench or on the court, I just want to fill whatever my role is," Edwards said. "My parents always tell me pressure is what you put on yourself."
OTHER NOMINEES
Kloe Froebe, Sr., Lincoln (Ill.)Led the Railsplitters to a 38-0 record on the basketball court and an Illinois Class 3A title. She averaged nearly 29 points per game and set a 3A record scoring 36 points in the championship. On the volleyball court, she was second in kills with 334 as Lincoln went 36-5 with a 3A runner-up finish.
Hattie Gros, Sr., Frankfort (Kan.)Named the Class 1A-1 Player of the Year and led the Wildcats to their first basketball state title, averaging 17 points per game. She also competed in volleyball, cross country, track and field, and was a state champion powerlifter as a junior.
Lauren Hurst, Jr., Cleveland (Tenn.)A MaxPreps All-American on the volleyball court and a top 35 basketball prospect, the junior is being courted in both sports having just received a basketball offer from Kentucky. She helped the Blue Raiders to a 24-10 record and semifinal postseason berth on the hardwood, averaging 14.0 points and 8.7 rebounds. In volleyball, Cleveland won the Division I Class AAA title as Hurst led the squad with 766 kills.
Arianna Roberson, Sr., Clark (San Antonio, Texas)The Duke commit helped the Cougars to a 33-3 record and a Class 6A regional final appearance, averaging 18.1 points per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the field to go along with 13.1 rebounds. She pounded 356 kills for a volleyball squad that went 27-16.
McKenna Woliczko, So., Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.)The MaxPreps National Sophomore of the Year in helped the Monarch basketball program to another appearance in California's Open Division final. She averaged 22.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. In the spring, Woliczko juggled softball, club basketball and earned a spot on the USA Basketball U17 team. On the diamond, she hit .380 with 14 RBI and a home run in addition to compiling a .941 fielding percentage.
PAST MAXPREPS FEMALE NATIONAL ATHLETES OF THE YEAR2007-08 — Nneka Ogwumike, Cy-Fair (Cypress, Texas)
2008-09 — Jordan Hasay, Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
2009-10 — Chiney Ogwumike, Cy-Fair
2010-11 — Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
2011-12 — Missy Franklin, Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.)
2012-13 — Missy Franklin, Regis Jesuit
2013-14 — Ariana Washington, Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.)
2015-16 — Mikayla Pivec, Lynnwood (Bothell, Wash.)
2016-17 — Tara Davis, Agoura (Calif.)
2017-18 — Alissa Pili, Dimond (Anchorage, Alaska)
2018-19 — Alissa Pili, Dimond
2019-20 — Paige Bueckers, Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.)
2020-21 — Paige Morningstar, North Allegheny (Wexford, Pa.)
2021-22 — Kiki Rice, Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.)
2022-23 — Joyce Edwards, Camden (S.C.)
