Johnson delivers on Staley's faith as S.C. survives

ALBANY, N.Y. — It appeared Friday as if South Carolina‘s women’s basketball team might suffer a shocking end to an undefeated season in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

But Dawn Staley said she looked at point guard Raven Johnson and saw something else.

“I knew she wasn’t gonna let us lose,” Staley said of Johnson, whose critical 3-pointer with under a minute left helped the No. 1 overall seed Gamecocks survive a huge rally by No. 4 seed Indiana.

The Gamecocks won 79-75 in the Albany 1 Region semifinals after nearly letting a 22-point second-half lead slip away. It would have been the biggest comeback in NCAA women’s tournament history and a crusher for a program that has lost just three games in the past three seasons.

The Hoosiers cut the lead to 74-72 on Mackenzie Holmes‘ layup with 1 minute, 8 seconds left. Last season, the heavily favored Gamecocks lost in the national semifinals to Iowa, and Friday another Big Ten team had them in trouble.

But Johnson said she didn’t feel nervous in the closing minutes Friday. She nailed a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left, which gave the Gamecocks just enough breathing room to survive to face Oregon State in Sunday’s regional final.

“We let them come back, and we definitely need to learn from this,” said Johnson, who had 14 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. “We’re not always going to come out with a W if we keep doing this. It’s going to get harder the further we go. I’m just glad we’re learning lessons from winning.”

On March 9, the Gamecocks trailed Tennessee in the SEC tournament semifinals by two points with just over a second remaining. Johnson said she was on the verge of tears in that game when she looked over at Staley, who said, “We’re good.”

It turned out they were good. Center Kamilla Cardoso banked in her first 3-pointer for a 74-73 win, and the Gamecocks went on the next day to take the SEC tournament championship. Johnson said the whole experience made her believe even more in her team.

“If Coach Staley has confidence in you, you’ve got to think highly of that,” Johnson said. “And as a point guard, if I’m not rattled, the team won’t be rattled.”

A redshirt sophomore, Johnson suffered a knee injury in the second game of her first year and couldn’t play the rest of the Gamecocks’ national championship season in 2021-22.

Last season, Johnson was a reserve for the Gamecocks and scored 13 points in the Final Four loss to Iowa. She went 3-of-6 on 3-pointers in that game, but South Carolina as a team was 4-of-20. And at critical junctures, the Hawkeyes’ defense sagged off Johnson and the other Gamecocks, conceding open 3-point attempts to pack in the paint and prevent drives. That strategy worked for the Hawkeyes, but made Johnson determined to become a better shooter.

She made 14-of-58 3-pointers last season; this year she has made 24-of-68, including all three attempts Friday. Cardoso led the Gamecocks with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting inside, but the ability to make 8-of-16 3-pointers saved them. This despite the fact that Indiana made 13 3-pointers, the most of any South Carolina foe since Staley took over the Gamecocks program in 2008-09.

“You see how different South Carolina is this year,” said guard Sydney Parrish, who led Indiana with 21 points. “They have shooters. They have Te-Hina [Paopao], they have Raven — she’s a year older and she has more confidence and experience. And same with Bree Hall.

“We knew we had to take some chances. Kamilla was hurting us inside, and we had to go double her. And Raven capitalized off of it and hit a big shot.”