Kamilla Cardoso leaves Final Four game vs. NC State with apparent leg injury

South Carolina star Kamilla Cardoso left Friday’s Final Four game against NC State with an apparent leg injury. She limped off the court and immediately headed to the locker room with less than two minutes to play in the second quarter.

Cardoso was having a strong first half at the time of her departure, totaling 16 points – half of South Carolina’s team total – along with seven rebounds during her 15 minutes. She was a crucial part of the attack out of the gate, and her health will be a major storyline through the second half.

During a halftime interview with Holly Rowe, though, Raven Johnson expressed optimism Cardoso would be able to come back out and at least give it a go, given the stakes.

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“She’s a killer,” Johnson said. “She’s gonna be back in the game. … She wants to win, so she’ll be good.”

Cardoso went through warm-ups to start the second half and returned to game action right away. She changed her leg sleeve, though, wearing a new one out of the break.

Cardoso has been the biggest piece of South Carolina’s undefeated season. She entered Friday’s game leading the Gamecocks with 14.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks to help them to a 34-0 record heading into the Final Four.

Kamilla Cardoso will soon head to the WNBA

Although Cardoso has one year of eligibility remaining, she decided to forego it and declare for the WNBA Draft, where she’ll be a likely top pick. ESPN’s Michael Voepel recently projected the Los Angeles Sparks to select her with the No. 4 overall pick, and while she had time to declare, she chose to do so before the Final Four got underway as her focus remained on a championship.

The timing of her announcement wasn’t lost on her head coach, though.

“She did it on April Fools,” Dawn Staley told reporters Tuesday. “She didn’t tell y’all it was a joke?”

In all seriousness, Staley said Cardoso spoke to her Monday in what was their only conversation about her decision. Rather than try to convince her star player to stay in Columbia, she expressed her excitement that Cardoso would be going to the next level – which, ultimately, is the goal.

“We’ve been through this with a lot of our players,” Staley said. “I want to walk them to the next level. When they’re prepared, when I feel like they have done enough on this level and the only thing that can help them is being on that level. Kamilla’s in that position. She’s been in our program for three years now. She played a role for us in the first two, and now she plays the focal point.

“Anytime you play the focal point in our program, it expedites your ability to be able to make the jump to the WNBA. And I do feel like her making the jump will only mean that her best basketball is ahead of her.”