No. 3 South Carolina picked up a 79-72 win at No. 6 LSU on Saturday night, marking the Gamecocks’ 18th straight victory against the Tigers. It was also coach Dawn Staley’s 500th win with the program. The win keeps South Carolina (25-2, 11-1 SEC) alone in first place in the conference, while the loss likely ends any chance LSU (22-4, 8-4 SEC) had at earning at No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think this team sees the end of the tunnel, meaning they know we are at the end of the season,” Staley mentioned during a postgame press conference. “So it’s a little bit easier to just focus in on what we have in front of us, and this was a big one. This was a huge game in front of us, huge game on the road and a hostile environment. Very NCAA Tournament-like. We just found a way to win.”
The last name Johnson stole the spotlight last night as Tessa Johnson scored 21 points and Raven Johnson contributed with 19 in the Gamecocks’ victory. Meanwhile, Flau’jae Johnson led LSU’s effort with 21 points.
As expected, this was a very competitive battle with no double-digit leads for either team at any point in the game. LSU won the first quarter 21-16 but South Carolina entered halftime with a 41-40 advantage. The Tigers played from behind the entire second half, but they got within one point multiple times during the fourth quarter.
LSU had a chance to tie late in the game with two free throws from Flau’jae, but Staley mentioned her team got “lucky” after she missed them both and then the Gamecocks got another opportunity to score. The coach also pointed out how unexpected it was to get the win despite giving up 18 offensive rebounds.
“It was two of the best teams in our conference, in the country, just trying to get a win,” she mentioned. “We all mentioned the game is going to be determined in those plays.”
Meanwhile, Kim Mulkey hopes her team takes this loss seriously, but she also likes what she is seeing from a roster that features eight new players and has only lost four games this season.
“My assessment would be keep doing what you are doing,” Mulkey mentioned. “You are this close to winning some of those games against people you are not supposed to beat. And we did this year, didn’t we beat Texas here? We weren’t supposed to win that game, so just keep plugging away. Stay in the right mindset and understand it’s a lot of basketball left to be played after the regular season is over.”
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Here is a closer look at Saturday’s game:
Fulwiley faces former team
This was MiLaysia Fulwiley’s first game against South Carolina since transferring to LSU. She had some good moments, including a steal, followed by a no-look pass to Grace Knox in the third quarter.
However, it was not an ideal night for her overall. She finished the game going just 1 of 8 from the field with three turnovers in 24 minutes. Her energetic style of play can lift up her team, but sometimes it can also hurt her.
“We gotta continue to make the positive be pluses when she’s in the ballgame and not minuses because she has tremendous quickness,” Mulkey mentioned. “She has things that she just does naturally.”
‘Who can guard Tessa?’
That was the question Mulkey asked her team during a huddle in the middle of the third quarter. It was a valid one because Tessa Johnson went on to register a season-high 21 points, with 16 of those coming in the first half.
She was on fire, but LSU freshman Bella Hines deserves credit for how she stepped up to guard her after Mulkey challenged someone to rise to the occasion.
Hines didn’t just make an impact on defense, she was also bringing the energy on offense, including four quick points in the third quarter. In the six minutes she played, Hines scored six points and potentially earned herself more playing time.
“I saw a kid that I need to play more,” Mulkey mentioned. “She needs to take away some of the minutes of some of them, because she got out there and guarded Tessa. She wasn’t afraid to bow up to her. She made shots. She had a lot of energy and effort, and she has my respect.”
Madina Okot shines in return to starting lineup
Staley took Okot out of the starting lineup before the game against Vanderbilt to take pressure off her. The center returned to the starting five on Saturday and put on one of her best performances of the season with 12 points and 17 rebounds.
Her impact was especially felt late in the game when LSU was only down by one point and still had a chance to win. After Flau’jae Johnson missed two key free throws, Okot grabbed the defensive rebound and South Carolina called a timeout. With 25 seconds left, Okot snuck behind the LSU defense and converted a pass from Raven Johnson. She also knocked down two late free throws.
“Made probably made the biggest play of the game when Raven gave her a lob in the dunker and she made it. Took her time and made it,” Staley mentioned during the postgame broadcast interview. “Truly proud of her because she’s been just through somethings this season and hopefully she can gain some confidence from this win.”
Flau’jae is not wasting a failure
Flau’jae Johnson, who finished the night with a team-high 21 points as well as eight rebounds, was doing everything she could for her team but some shots just didn’t go in. She made it a one-point game with a second-chance jumper with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter. The crowd was electric and got even louder when she drew a foul with 45 seconds left. Unfortunately for her team, neither of her two attempts went in. She also missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining..
Flau’jae was emotional after the game thinking about those two free throws and what else she could have done defensively. However, she quoted former Alabama football coach Nick Saban when asked about how she would help the younger players move on from this result and stay locked in for the next game.
“Nick Saban says, ‘Never waste a failure,’ so we are not going to waste this loss,” she mentioned. “We are definitely going to learn from it. We’re going to grow from it. As vets, tomorrow or whenever we get back in the lab, we gotta focus. We really gotta be intentional about these last couple of games that we have and then going into the SEC Tournament and the Big Dance.”
