Raven Johnson, Te-Hina PaoPao reflect on what it means for South Carolina to complete perfect season

Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao had the time of their lives aiding South Carolina to an undefeated season and national championship.

This team will go down in the history books. It was yet another title for Dawn Staley leading the Gamecocks, but this one felt a little more special.

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Especially when you consider the undefeated season and beating Iowa and Caitlin Clark to cap it off.

“It means a lot to make history, be one of the teams to make history, especially with a young group,” Johnson said. “You guys just don’t know what this team goes through, what this team do. It’s daycare, yeah, it is daycare. But at the same time, when we step on the court, we’re ready to play.

“When the ball goes up, we’re ready to play. We have a winning mentality, and we’re so competitive. Our practices are so hard, especially against the Highlighters. We have a competitive edge, and we want to win.”

South Carolina had a young team, that was no secret. Kamilla Cardoso was the big presence and the veteran on the team.

So sure, she led the way for South Carolina but the rest of the young bucks had to fill in and give the Gamecocks a shot at the title.

“Yeah, it just means so much,” Paopao said. “We’ve come a long way. It’s been a long journey. We’ve trusted each other so much over the season. We have so much confidence with each other, so much love. We’re going to sound like a broken record, but it’s love throughout this whole program, throughout this whole team.

“We genuinely love to be with each other. We genuinely want to see everyone succeed. It’s been a great journey, and to cap it off with a perfect season, it’s just a blessing. And all glory to God for that.”

Like her South Carolina players, Staley was very humble in the aftermath of victory. 

“Well, it means that we have quietly done things, in my opinion, the right way,” Staley said. “We find the right pieces to help us. We really do things the right way. We’re very disciplined in how we approach basketball. I am one that, I’m forever indebted to basketball, so I’m always going to take care of it. I’m always going to make sure that our players are respectful. I’m always going to make sure that they know the history of our game. I want to make sure they are always respectful to our opponents.

“And when you do it that way, in return, you have success. You have success in the wins column and very little disappointment in the loss column.”Raven Johnson, Te-Hina PaoPao reflect on what it means for South Carolina to complete perfect season