Shaunzinski Gortman, a former professional women’s basketball player and Gamecock Hall of Famer, has been hired as the next girls basketball coach at White Knoll High School. 

Gortman replaces Coretta Ferguson, who left to take the same job at Irmo. Gortman spent the past three seasons as the head coach at Fairfield Central High School in Winnsboro. 

At Fairfield Central, she led her team to 34 wins and a postseason appearance each season. The team finished 11-12 overall this past year, including a 6-3 region finish for third place. Fairfield Central advanced to the third round of the playoffs before losing to Clinton. 

White Knoll is coming off one of its best seasons in years. The Timberwolves went 17-10 in 2025 and contended with Lexington and Dutch Fork for the region championship. 

The Timberwolves will lose their top two scorers from the 2025 team. Shaelyn Hayes and Emory Waters-Inman were both seniors, but despite their departure, the team can bring back eight players from last year’s squad. 

Gortman was born and raised in Columbia and was a standout high school star at Keenan High School. She received college offers from prestigious programs like Tennessee and North Carolina, but eventually decided to stay close to home and sign with the Gamecocks. 

With the Gamecocks, Gortman scored 1,367 points during her four-year career and added 576 rebounds, 318 assists and 212 steals in 105 games played. She led the team in three-point shooting in back-to-back seasons, 2000-01 and 2001-02.

Gortman recorded one of just eight triple-doubles in South Carolina program history. She earned second-team All-SEC honors as a junior and first-team All-SEC honors as a senior. She was also named an honorable mention All-American her senior season. 

South Carolina also reached its first Elite Eight appearance during Gortman’s 2002 senior season. She was named to the 2002 NCAA East Regional All-Tournament team for her efforts. 

After college, Gortman declared for the 2002 WNBA Draft and became the first-ever Gamecock drafted after being selected ninth overall by the nearby Charlotte Sting. Gortman never suited up for the Sting, as she was traded later on draft night.

She instead played her rookie season in Minnesota with the Lynx. She appeared in 29 games and averaged three points. 

Gortman played three more WNBA seasons after that, spending time with the Washington Mystics and Seattle Storm. 

After her WNBA career, Gortman continued to play professional basketball overseas. 

Gortman was inducted into the University of South Carolina Association of Lettermen Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023. 

Lexington County basketball coaching hires

Boys

Brookland-Cayce - Larry Davis 

Gray Collegiate - Dion Bethea 

Lexington - Robert Wells 

Girls 

Brookland-Cayce - Terrence Gibson 

Chapin - Terence Jones 

Irmo - Coretta Ferguson 

River Bluff - Jordan Leath 

White Knoll - Shaunzinski Gortman