What South Carolina’s Dawn Staley said about Kamilla Cardoso, Raven Johnson statuses
Following South Carolina’s 78-59 win over N.C. State in the Final Four on Friday, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley provided injury updates on two Gamecocks.
Starting center Kamilla Cardoso exited the game late in the first half after a fall and limped back to the locker room but returned in the second half and finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Cardoso also left the game late, once USC’s lead was secure, and spent some time on an exercise bike.
“She’s all right,” Staley said postgame. “She played.”
Starting point guard Raven Johnson also exited the game late in the second half, subbing out at the 4:56 mark of the fourth quarter and leaving for the locker room. Johnson returned to the bench but didn’t sub back in as the Gamecocks wrapped up a 19-point win over the Wolfpack.
Staley said Johnson (who finished the game with 13 points on 5 of 8 shooting and 3 of 5 shooting on 3-pointers) will also be ready to play Sunday.
“Raven?” Staley said. “Yeah. Yeah, Raven, unless she’s going to be rolling around here in a wheelchair, she’s going to play. Best believe that.”
After exiting the game, Johnson initially told USC’s trainer she thought she’d tweaked her hamstring. Speaking with reporters in Friday’s postgame locker room, though, Johnson clarified that she’d actually hyper-extended her knee. Cardoso said she was just feeling some pain.
Postgame, South Carolina teammates also spoke glowingly about the resilience of Cardoso, who made a concerted effort to push through injury and extend USC’s lead in the second half.
“I knew she was going to be OK,” forward Ashlyn Watkins said. “Kamilla is a warrior. She’s not going to let a little injury like that affect her. She’s going to push and she’s going to be ready for Sunday.”
Added guard Te-Hina Paopao: “She’s just awesome. She’s going to play through some pain. That’s who she is. She loves playing the game so she’s going to push through that. Knowing that we’ve got one more game, she’s definitely going to be OK.”
In other words, despite having two starters leave the court for the locker room Friday, South Carolina should be at full health (as much as that’s possible five games into an NCAA Tournament) for its season finale.
USC, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, will play either No. 1 Iowa or No. 3 UConn in Sunday’s national championship game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (3 p.m., ABC).
This story was originally published April 5, 2024 at 9:36 PM.
