What Dawn Staley said after No. 3 South Carolina WBB’s road win over No. 6 LSU
South Carolina extended its win streak over LSU to 18 games on Saturday night.
Dawn Staley — who now has 500 wins at USC — and the No. 3 Gamecocks beat No. 6 LSU 79-72 in Baton Rouge.
The game was back and forth from start to finish and went down to the wire.
Here’s what Staley said after the win.
Madina Okot’s impact
South Carolina forward Madina Okot came up big for the Gamecocks against LSU. She finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds. She scored four points in the final 25 seconds of the game to secure the win.
Okot has returned to the starting lineup in recent games after a brief move to the bench in January was used to take pressure off her.
“Madina has been ramping up ever since we did take the pressure off of her, [for] two games. And then we decided that, really, she didn’t have a choice — she’s got to get back in the starting lineup. And that’s all she needed. I think she made big plays for us. She rebounded consistently out there, made probably the biggest play of the game. Raven gave her a lob and a dunker, and she made it — took her time and made it. So truly proud of her, because she’s been just through some things this season, and hopefully she can gain some confidence from this win.”
Raven and Tessa playing plenty of minutes
Both Raven Johnson and Tessa Johnson played nearly the entire game.
Tessa Johnson finished with a team-high 38 minutes (including all 20 minutes in the second half) while Raven Johnson played 37 minutes. The necessity for extra minutes came after backup point guard Maddy McDaniel missed the game with an injury.
The Johnsons combined for 40 points in the win. Tessa Johnson scored 21 and Raven Johnson notched a career-high 19 points.
“They had to [play that much]. When you’re down a ball handler like Maddy McDaniel, your veterans have to go probably play a lot more than we wanted them to play. We did try to get them a little break before timeouts. But they’re built for it. Maybe, maybe, if they could have gotten a couple of other blows throughout the second half, they might have had enough energy to make some more plays down the stretch. They were exhausted, but they got us over the mountaintop.”
This stat was a ‘surprise’ to Staley
LSU out-rebounded South Carolina 46-37 in the game. The Tigers also tallied 18 offensive rebounds to the Gamecocks’ 11.
Some moments toward the end, like LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson missing key free throws late, helped South Carolina eke out the win despite the rebounding disadvantage, Staley said.
“It was two of the best teams in our conference, in the country, just trying to get a win. We all said ... the game is going to be determined in those plays. I thought LSU got multiple offensive rebounds at the end of the game that put them in a position to close the gap, to go ahead. Then at the end, we got lucky. Flau’jae (Johnson) doesn’t miss free throws. And we actually got a bucket after that. It’s those kinds of plays that are determining the game.
“They got a lot of them, they got 18 offensive rebounds on us — 18 offensive rebounds from a team like LSU means they win basketball games like this. So it’s surprising to see just how bad it was after the game.”
Offensive execution late in the game
LSU made it a one-point game with 1:16 left on the clock. But South Carolina was able to finish the final 25 seconds of the game on a 6-0 run to secure the win.
A jumper from Okot gave South Carolina a 75-72 lead with 25 seconds left in the game. Then a pair of free throws from Okot, followed by a pair of free throws from Raven Johnson iced the game at 79-72.
“We put the ball in Raven Johnson’s hands to make a play. We put it in a couple of people’s hands and we got good looks. But when it was down to that last possession, Raven was either going to play make for herself, or play make for her teammate. And fortunately, Madina snuck behind the defense to give her a little layup. I thought she took her time, because by the time she caught and made a move, there was a crowd there. So she took her time and put it off that white square and it went in.”
Where South Carolina as a team is now
South Carolina is now 25-2 and atop the SEC with an 11-1 record in conference play. The Gamecocks have four more games remaining in the regular season and has all but locked up an SEC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament.
Staley’s squad is No. 3 in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s Top 16, meaning the Gamecocks would be a No. 1 seed in the Fort Worth Regional 3 in March Madness.
“I think this team sees the end of the tunnel, meaning they know we’re at the end of the season. 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 just a hostile environment, Very, very NCAA Tournament-like, and we just found a way to win. I think this team is finding ways to win, a lot of different ways. Especially when … we’re not fully healthy.”
Bench players crucial spot minutes late
South Carolina didn’t get much production from its bench against LSU, but what the Gamecocks did get was important.
Players like Maryam Duada, Ayla McDowell and Agot Makeer all gave up important spot minutes late in the game when South Carolina’s starting five all found themselves in foul trouble.
Dauda played four minutes and had a block and a rebound. McDowell had two points in nine minutes. Makeer had five points, including a clutch 3-pointer late.
“Maryam gave us a lift. She got a blocked shot. She had a presence out there. It’s kind of unfair for her to not play almost the entire game, and then her numbers called. She is someone that practices like she’s going to play every single day. A real character, person. This is her last year she plays spot minutes here or there, but you can never tell in practice. So the basketball gods really repaid her tonight for that, because it was a key block that she got. Ayla’s always going to give you what she’s got. I’m happy for Agot getting out there because I know she’s been hurting, but it was good to get her some minutes and understand that we’re going to need her down the stretch. Big three, big three by Agot.”
Tessa Johnson’s offense
Johnson scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half. She made four 3-pointers in the game, three of which came in the second quarter.
Staley said Johnson “was our offense” early in the game.
“I thought we did a really good job force-feeding her the ball because she was hot. I thought Tessa did a great job getting herself open and square to the basket. It doesn’t take long [the ball is] not on her fingers long before she’s launching it. We’re very fortunate that she was very efficient, because we needed to stay close, especially with the type of crowd that they had. Because every miss you heard it, every transition basket they got, it really matters. So we wanted to do some things that would just kind of keep the crowd out of it. I don’t think we accomplished that, but we did enough to get the win.”
