How two freshmen fueled South Carolina’s championship

CLEVELAND — With just over a minute to go in the third quarter of the women’s NCAA tournament championship game Sunday, South Carolina freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley grabbed a rebound. She turned, took two dribbles up the right side of the floor and fired a cross-court pass.

Fellow freshman Tessa Johnson stood waiting on the wing. She caught the ball in rhythm and let it fly. The South Carolina bench stood, raised its arms and screamed as the ball swished through the net to give the Gamecocks an 11-point edge over Iowa at Rocket Mortgage Arena.

With a smile on her face, Johnson pointed to Fulwiley as they ran back on defense with the Gamecocks’ largest lead of the day.

A season after South Carolina’s most influential recruiting class — affectionately referred to as “the Freshies” — graduated, the Gamecocks were led by their two new freshmen, Johnson and Fulwiley, to an 87-75 win over the Hawkeyes and a third championship in seven years.

“We had each other’s backs,” Johnson said of Fulwiley. “We’ll always have each other’s backs. I love it. She’s my little Freshie.”

The feeling on Sunday was far different than it was a year ago, when Fulwiley and Johnson were still in high school. Last season, the original “Freshies,” led by Aliyah Boston, suffered a stunning upset to Iowa in the national semifinals. For a while Sunday, it seemed as if history could repeat itself.

Iowa jumped out to a 10-0 lead and extended it to 20-9 with 4:45 to go in the first quarter.

Enter the Freshies 2.0. Fulwiley came off the bench to get an assist that cut the lead to 20-11 and then scored seven straight South Carolina points to make it a manageable 22-18. Then it was Johnson’s turn. She scored South Carolina’s next six points to get the Gamecocks back within one possession.

“I was a little nervous coming into the game, but I think I just had so much faith and trust in, not only my team, but in God,” said Johnson, who took a moment by herself on the bench before the game to bow her head and ask God for peace and wisdom. “I just had a feeling out there.”

By the final buzzer, the freshmen had combined for 28 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. They added a steal and a block for good measure.

“We call them the rookies,” senior transfer Te-Hina Paopao said. “You have the Freshies, and they [are] the rookies. Just being able to see them perform at a high level on the big stage, I’m super proud of them.”

Johnson finished with a career-high 19 points, becoming the first freshman since UConn’s Breanna Stewart in 2013 to lead her team in scoring in the national championship game. Fulwiley added nine points as well as four assists. The South Carolina bench outscored Iowa’s 37-0. It was the most bench points in the championship game in the past 25 years.

“MiLaysia Fulwiley has been very patient with us,” coach Dawn Staley said after the game. “But winning a national championship will allow us and that relationship to continue to grow because I know she really wanted this.”

The freshmen took different routes to their Sunday stardom. Fulwiley, who grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, emerged on Day 1 of her collegiate career when she pulled off a circus layup against Notre Dame in Paris that went viral. She scored in double digits in each of her first five games. Johnson, who grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of Albertville, Minnesota, was a bit more subtle on her path to stardom. She led the Gamecocks in scoring twice this season, once with 15 points in the Elite Eight and again in the championship game. Johnson and former Gamecock Destanni Henderson (2022) are the only players who have set career scoring highs in the national championship game in the past 25 years.

At one point during Sunday’s game, Fulwiley leaned over to Johnson to tell her how surreal it was that they’d come so far. “It’s crazy how we went from not being able to be on the same court together to being on the court together on a championship level,” Fulwiley said.

The errant passes, the turnovers, the defensive lapses, the rookie mistakes of their first season were in the rearview mirror as they made their mark on the biggest stage.

With the celebration in full force, confetti dotting the hardwood and music pumping through the speakers, “the rookies” found each other. After stepping down from the ladder with a piece of net in her hand, Fulwiley embraced Johnson. They smiled for the cameras. Johnson went up the ladder for her piece of the net. After snipping it from the rim, she looked back at her teammates with a wide grin.

“I just love her so much,” Fulwiley said of Johnson.

The rookies started their college careers with a championship. Next season, they’ll try to do something no other South Carolina class has been able to do: win two in a row.