How Raven Johnson showed up when South Carolina WBB needed her most vs. Texas
Raven Johnson stepped up Thursday night just when Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks needed her the most.
The veteran point guard made play after play in clutch time of No. 2 South Carolina’s 68-65 win over No. 4 Texas in Colonial Life Arena.
Johnson finished with 10 points, four rebounds, six assists and a block on the night. The Longhorns (18-1, 3-2 SEC) had dealt the Gamecocks (18-1, 5-0) their lone loss of the season back in November. Johnson had no plans of losing to Texas on her home court Thursday, and it showed.
“It came down to will and grit, and I think we did a good job at the end of executing the things that coach wanted,” Johnson said. “We didn’t want to lose in the CLA in front of all these fans. ... We dug deep and we got to win. So I’m really proud of this team.”
Johnson played some of her best basketball at the end of the game and had a big impact on the stat sheet. She scored or assisted on 12 of South Carolina’s 20 points in the final quarter.
“Coach drew up some X’s and O’s and they were blowing up some of our players, so when they blow up some of your teammates you have put your head down and create,” Johnson said. “I think (Staley) did a good job of that in practice, of telling people to create where we don’t have anything.”
Madina Okot’s 3-pointer with 3:32 left on the clock shifted the momentum in the game, and two buckets from Johnson late helped seal the win for the Gamecocks.
Okot put the team up four, when neither team had led by more than three points in the second half to that point. A layup from Johnson extended the lead to five with just over a minute left. And when Texas cut the lead to three with 44 to go, it was Johnson who upped South Carolina’s lead to 66-61 with 23 seconds left in the game.
Staley said she didn’t have to ask Johnson to go into takeover mode late in the game. It just happened naturally.
“Raven’s a playmaker,” Staley said. “I think I did ask her after the game, ‘What was she thinking in that moment?’ She was upset that she missed Joyce on probably one of the easier plays, but she just overthrew the pass. So I guess that meant (she was) gonna shoot and pass it, and she actually delivered.”
The clutch points for Johnson are even more evidence of her offensive improvement in her final year with the Gamecocks. For most of her career, Johnson has been known as a defensive specialist who is more than capable of running an offense, but she’s lacked a consistent scoring presence. Her offensive numbers last season were some of the worst in her career across the board.
This year, though, Johnson is averaging career-highs in points per game (10.2), field goal percentage (51.4%), 3-point percentage (37.5%) and effective field goal percentage (58%).
“The baskets at the end, that’s the work I put in in the summer,” Johnson said. “My teammates, the coaches, the confidence. It’s all about confidence. They just put confidence in me.”
Texas head coach Vic Schaefer, who has now had to coach against Johnson six times in the last 369 days, praised her efforts after the game. She makes things difficult for her opponents on both ends of the floor, said Schaefer, who likened her play to his own point guard and Johnson’s fellow All-SEC Defensive team member, Rori Harmon.
“I think that she’s really trying to impose her will on her teammates to play hard,” Schaefer said. “When she’s playing hard on the ball, like Rori, when you’re standing behind those two, you go, ‘Gosh almighty, she’s playing pretty hard. I guess I’ll play pretty hard too.’ If you’re soft on the ball, I promise you, you’re gonna be soft behind the ball.”
“I think Raven’s really trying to claim and own the team and how they play and their toughness. I think that permeates through their team.”
This story was originally published January 16, 2026 at 11:22 AM.
