What Dawn Staley said about player altercation from USC-LSU championship game
No. 1 South Carolina hoisted the SEC Tournament trophy Sunday after a 79-72 win over the LSU Tigers at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
But head coach Dawn Staley found herself addressing an unfortunate moment that happened late in the game — a brief skirmish between both teams that resulted in multiple player ejections, including Gamecocks star Kamilla Cardoso.
“I want to apologize to the basketball community,” Staley said in her postgame interview with ESPN. “When you’re playing in championship games like this in our league, things get heated.
“No bad intentions. Their emotions got so far ahead of them that sometimes things happen.
“I want to apologize for us playing a part in that. That’s not who we are. That’s not what we’re about.”
Staley addressed the incident even more when speaking to the crowd during the trophy presentation in Greenville, marking USC’s eighth SEC tournament championship in 10 years.
“I want to apologize for what took place out here today,” Staley said. “Sometimes when you play basketball things get a little heated. I know it didn’t come from an ugly place. ... We will get better handling situations like this. I want to apologize for our South Carolina women’s basketball team ...
“Our players who got ejected can’t take part (in the trophy presentation and celebration), I know it’ll hit a little harder on them. ... We are super proud (of the players who finished the game).”
Staley also told the crowd that LSU was a “great team” and she wouldn’t be surprised if she and USC matched up with LSU a third time in this year’s NCAA women’s basketball championship game in Cleveland, Ohio. USC will enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated for a second straight season after finishing 32-0.
Staley, whose team is essentially a lock for the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed on Selection Sunday last week, also addressed the altercation extensively in her formal postgame news conference:
Dawn Staley talks about skirmish
“What you saw was two highly competitive teams trying to win a conference championship, and we did not handle it well. ... I want to say thank you to the officials and everyone else who jumped in (to de-escalate). … The penalties were what they were and well within the rules.”
“Flau’jae apologized to me and said she’s not that type of player. I wanted to say that. Otherwise, it wouldn’t get out there. ... I’ll take responsibility for what happened from our side of it. ... We talk about these things as a team, and we try to as much as possible express to them how not to react. ... But real time is real time.”
“Kamilla, everybody else, I know if they had a chance to do it over again, they’d do it differently. … I don’t want people tuning into women’s basketball and thinking this is our game. … Our game is beautiful. ... But this, unfortunately, is part of it — we’ve got to get that figured out (as a sport).”
“Kamilla understands. She really understands. I think if you talked to her about things she’d say she let emotions get the best of her. She’s gotta handle them better, gotta control them, because she’s that important to our team and the women’s game.”
“It’s bittersweet. It really is. I wanted to be there for the players (on the court), but part of me wanted to be in the locker room and celebrate with the players who couldn’t. ... But we put ourselves in that position. … I hope it’s the last of the last and the biggest lesson any of our teams have to experience.”
“A lot of people ask me to compare last year’s team to this year’s team. This never would’ve happened with last year’s team. They would’ve been so political about it. Aliyah (Boston) would’ve been the referee, like ‘Don’t do that.’ This team, they’re protectors. ... You want them to protect their sisters, but you don’t want them to do it to where they’ll be penalized. … They’ll draw from it.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2024 at 5:46 PM.