Dawn Staley on taking responsibility for fight vs. LSU: 'I don't want people to think that's our game because it isn't'

Dawn Staley is making no excuses for her team after a fight broke out at the end of Sunday’s SEC Tournament Championship between South Carolina and LSU. She made it clear postgame that she did not defend the actions of Kamilla Cardoso or any other player involved in the scuffle.

Cardoso escalated the situation when she rushed over to shove Tigers guard Flau’jae Johnson, who had just committed a foul against Milaysia Fulwiley, to the floor. She seemed to be reacting after Johnson pushed Ashlyn Watkins, who was clapping in her face.

It resulted in the benches clearing and even Johnson’s brother running on the court and being escorted off. Staley took a strong stance against what happened after the game, saying it is not what she preaches to her players.

“I’ll take responsibility for what happened from our side of it,” Staley said. “We talk about these things as a team and we try to, as much as possible, express to them how not to react in those type of situations. But real time is real time. Kamilla, as well as the other four or five players that were ejected, I know if they had a chance to do it all over again, they would do it differently. But now we have that.

“I just don’t want the people who are tuning into women’s basketball to see that and think that is our game because it isn’t. Our game is a really beautiful thing and, to be quite honest, this is a part of it now. So we have to fix it and we have to move on.”

You have Kim Mulkey and then you have a class act in @dawnstaley who made sure to validate and protect Flau’jae while being accountable for her players and their behavior. Bravo Dawn 👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/Rvc83RaiBD

— Shirletta J. Kinchen (@DoctahKay) March 10, 2024

The rumble resulted in Johnson receiving an intentional foul and Cardoso being ejected with a fighting penalty. All other players on both teams, except South Carolina’s Saniah Fegin, were ejected from the game for vacating their benches. SC’s Te-Hina Paopao was also not ejected because she was at the scorer’s table when the scuffle occurred.

The Gamecocks went on to win the game 79-72 to claim their second straight SEC Tournament Championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. However, Cardoso was suspended for the next game, meaning she will miss the first round of action.

It’s a big loss, as Cardoso with 14.2 points and 2.6 blocks per game. However, all both South Carolina and LSU can do now is learn from the fight and move on as Staley said.

Cardoso also expressed remorse for her actions, issuing an apology on Twitter.

“I would like to extend my sincerest apologies for my actions during today’s game,” she tweeted after the game. “My behavior was not representative of who I am as a person or the South Carolina program, and I deeply regret any discomfort or inconvenience it may have caused. I take full responsibility for my actions and assure you that I am committed to conducting myself with the utmost respect and sportsmanship in the future.”