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ALBANY — With below a minute left in a two-point recreation on Friday night time — with an Elite Eight berth on the road — Indiana had all of the sudden pushed undefeated No. 1 South Carolina to the brink within the fourth quarter to beat a 17-point halftime deficit. However South Carolina’s head coach Daybreak Staley had one factor on her thoughts: Raven Johnson.
She’d seen the look in Johnson’s eyes in these previous couple of minutes because the lead shrunk. It was a glance she had seen earlier than from her gamers all through the season.
“I knew she wasn’t going to allow us to lose,” Staley mentioned. “I knew she was going to do one thing.”
That one thing ended up being a number of issues. The primary was a midrange jumper within the lane to place the Gamecocks up 72-65, the second was a three-pointer off of a submit kickout from Kamilla Cardoso to push the lead again to 5 factors, and the final was making the second of two makes an attempt on the free-throw line to maintain it at a two-possession recreation.
Each the look and the stretch of play was one thing Staley noticed coming from this staff throughout follow earlier than and in the course of the common season.
The Gamecocks changed all 5 starters from final 12 months’s run to the Ultimate 4, sending 4 onto the WNBA. 4 of this 12 months’s starters have been on the bench for the loss to Iowa, together with Johnson.
She was on the court docket close to the highest of the arc throughout that recreation, surveying the protection with the ball and no one else round her. Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark noticed her and waved her off, in a second that went viral on-line.
Johnson handed the ball out.
Now, she says that second is one of the best factor that’s ever occurred to her.
“It simply advised me to get within the gymnasium, work on my weaknesses,” Johnson mentioned.
That’s the mentality Staley is in search of from this roster. The Gamecocks have had particular person moments like Cardoso’s late 3-pointer towards Tennessee within the SEC Event and Johnson stepping up towards Indiana, however Staley mentioned the follow gymnasium is the place she feels most snug about her staff.
She credit the staff’s follow squad, dubbed “The Highlighters” for serving to gasoline that aggressive drive. They beat the Gamecocks in these follow settings. Quite a bit.
“It doesn’t matter what the pace of our opponents are, they’re a lot faster,’ Staley mentioned “They do it at a a lot sooner tempo. So that they’ve allowed us to see the sport a bit of slower if groups aren’t as fast as our Highlighters.”
Staley has appeared on in follow, throughout video games and off the court docket as her staff has come collectively. She’s coached them up, sure, however observed they’ve risen collectively in their very own technique to overcome obstacles.
“We prefer to assume we, as coaches, have a hand in who the id of our staff is,” Staley mentioned. “This staff created that. They created it themselves.”
Because the lead over Indiana dwindled within the second half, she strayed from calling a timeout for changes. Why? As a result of she knew the Gamecocks might do it themselves.
“They don’t need to lose, and so they have an uncanny method of figuring it out, participant by participant,” Staley mentioned. “They’re not fazed by shedding a 22-point lead or taking place double digits. They’re not fazed by it. It’s unbelievable to see how they deal with hostile conditions all season lengthy.”
The workers known as a play to get the ball to Cardoso, who drew additional defenders from the Hoosiers that left Raven Johnson open on the proper facet of the three-point arc.
Johnson bought her toes set and fired, hitting a clutch three-pointer that every one however put the sport away minutes later.
That’s not the type of shot Johnson would’ve had the arrogance to take final 12 months, she mentioned. Because the clock dwindled down and the lead did with it, she reminded herself of how final 12 months ended and the way that felt.
It’s a shot she’s taken numerous instances earlier than, throughout and after follow. Her coaches and teammates have watched her get a quota of pictures up each single day, and everybody on the Gamecocks facet of the ground felt good when it left her hand.
Te-Hina Paopao, a switch addition from Oregon, mentioned she knew the shot was getting in as quickly as Johnson caught the ball.
“When Raven’s in rhythm and she or he is aware of that the ball is coming to her she units her toes and when she’s in rhythm, it’s going to go in,” Paopao mentioned.
Johnson credit her teammates for the arrogance it took to take it, the sort she lacked throughout final 12 months’s run. But when she wasn’t the one to shoot, she would’ve had confidence in any of Paopao, Corridor or any of the opposite Gamecocks taking it.
“We uplift everybody as a staff regardless of who it’s,” Johnson mentioned.
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