South Carolina may have wrapped up the early signing period for the 2026 recruiting cycle, but Dawn Staley and her staff aren’t slowing down. The Gamecocks remain active on the trail and are set to host a major international target this weekend.
Alicia Tournebize, a 6-foot-4 forward from Vichy, France, is making her way to Columbia. Tournebize delivered a standout performance at the 2025 U18 EuroBasket Tournament, averaging 12.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. A year earlier, she logged 3.3 points and 1.8 boards during the U17 World Cup.
Kentucky is also in the race for her commitment—she visited Lexington earlier in the week to watch the Wildcats take on Purdue.
Currently, Tournebize is playing professionally for Tango Bourges Basket in Europe, where she’s putting up 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 6.8 minutes per game. Considering she’s competing against seasoned veterans—some with WNBA backgrounds—the fact that an 18-year-old is earning meaningful minutes is a strong indicator of her potential ceiling.
Tournebize caught worldwide attention this past summer when she threw down a two-handed dunk during the U18 EuroBasket Tournament. It marked at least her third in-game dunk and cemented her as the first French woman ever to dunk in a game, turning her into an overnight viral sensation.
While Dawn Staley is prohibited from naming prospects before they sign, she has repeatedly hinted at her interest in Tournebize.
Back in October, Staley posted a fuzzy picture of pink A’Ones and mentioned she was recruiting in France “near Paris but not in Paris.” That same weekend, Tournebize was photographed wearing pink A’Ones during competition.
Then, on November 3, Staley spoke about next year’s Oui Play matchup in Paris against Maryland and joked, “I hope we have a French player on our roster to take home.”
Tournebize also has a direct connection to the Gamecock program. Her mother, Isabelle Fijalkowski, spent the 1997–98 seasons in the WNBA with the Cleveland Rockers—during the same era that South Carolina associate head coach Lisa Boyer served as an assistant for the franchise in 1998.
Fijalkowski was the Rockers’ leading scorer and rebounder that season, and across her two-year WNBA stint she averaged 12.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists before returning to Europe, where she enjoyed a distinguished EuroLeague career.
A former Colorado standout, Fijalkowski was inducted into the French Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 and is set to join the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2026.
