Dawn Staley says South Carolina working to bring players home from Israel

South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley said Saturday that the university is working to bring three former basketball players, including WNBA veteran Tiffany Mitchell, home from Israel as joint U.S. and Israeli missile strikes against Iran continue.

Staley shared a post on X revealing that Mitchell, who played last season for the Seattle Storm; former Phoenix Mercury forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan; and former Team USA goalie Destiny Littleton were all in Israel at the time of the strikes.

Head coach Dawn Staley of the South Carolina Gamecocks during a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina on January 25, 2026. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

“Please pray for our @GamecockWBB @TiffMitch25 @2121Mikiah @dstnylttltn24 who are in a war zone in Israel,” his message read.

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“We are making a plan to get home. Praying that our loved ones return home safely as soon as possible! Thank you in advance.”

Neither the WNBA nor the University of South Carolina immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Littleton, who played for the South Carolina Gamecocks from 2019-2022, posted a series of video updates on social media declaring that she was “safe.”

South Carolina guard Destiny Littleton during a game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina on January 9, 2022. (John Byrum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“I’m about to head to the shelter now,” she said in a video. “Unfortunate, but this is the current situation.”

Mitchell shared Staley’s post on X with praying hands emoji, but did not comment further. Herbert Harrigan did the same.

Littleton plays for Hapoel Lev Jerusalem, a professional women’s basketball team in the Israeli Women’s Basketball Premier League. According to the team’s Facebook, she signed with the team in November. She previously played for the United States basketball team, winning a gold medal at the 2017 FIBA ​​3×3 U18 World Cup.

Tiffany Mitchell of the Seattle Storm moves the ball down the field against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas on August 22, 2025. (Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Mitchell signed with the Storm in July after starting the 2025 season with the Las Vegas Aces. She played several offseasons overseas, including a stint with the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League.

She last played with Hapoel Lev Jerusalem during the 2024-2025 season and won the Israeli women’s basketball championship in the Premier League in 2019. It was not immediately clear if she played for the team. She announced on her Instagram in November that she had signed with the Beijing Great Wall of the Chinese Women’s Basketball Association.

Herbert Harrigan was a first-round WNBA draft pick, selected sixth overall in the 2020 WNBA Draft. She has had several stints in the league, most recently for the Mercury in 2024.

She was then traded to the Dallas Wings before being cut last year. She currently plays in the Israeli Women’s Basketball Premier League for Elitzur Ramla.

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Mikiah Herbert Harrigan of the Phoenix Mercury against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas on July 3, 2024. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

The United States joined Israel in launching strikes against Iran on Saturday morning. In video remarks posted to Truth Social, Trump encouraged the Iranian people take over their government once the United States and Israel complete their “major combat operations” in Iran.

Iran launched retaliatory missile strikes against US sites in several countries. Jennifer Griffin of Fox News reported that about 40 missiles landed in Israel. Additionally, Iran appears to have struck the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, but no casualties have been reported. Iran has also launched missiles at Saudi Arabia and Jordan, where the United States has squadrons of advanced fighter jets, Griffin added.

Michael Sinkewicz and Rachel Wolf of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

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