South Carolina women's basketball holds off Oregon State to advance to the Final Four

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South Carolina used a 12-0 third quarter run to pull away from Oregon State and then got a clutch basket from Tessa Johnson to hold off the Beavers 70-58 and advance to the Gamecocks’ fourth straight Final Four.

Twice in the third quarter the Beavers cut the deficit to two points. They pulled within 41-39 but then committed back-to-back turnovers. 

Regional MVP Kamilla Cardoso made a layup, but then Raegan Beers again cut it to two points. AJ Marotte missed a layup and Oregon State had let South Carolina off the mat one too many times.

Raven Johnson hit a three from the corner, ending South Carolina’s streak of ten straight misses from behind the arc. That broke the seal for South Carolina, and Tessa Johnson hit one from the same spot on the next possession.

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Tessa followed that with a floater and then Sania Feagin made consecutive layups to put the Gamecocks up 55-41.

“Raven hit it first, and me and Pao were saying she opened up the basket for us,” Tessa said. “I remember she passed it to me, and I just let it go, and then it brought momentum to the team.”

Oregon State chipped away at the lead in the fourt quarter and cut the deficit back down to 62-58 with four minutes remaining. Dawn Staley called a timeout and inserted Tessa Johnson. 

Johnson drove into the lane, hung in the air, and nailed the jumper as she was fouled. She sank the free throw to put South Carolina back up seven.

“The thought process going through my head was my shots weren’t falling as I wanted, so I needed to attack,” Johnson said. “They called the foul, so that’s really it.”

“We had a pretty good look that we missed, and I thought we got about every shot we wanted down the stretch of this game. They just didn’t fall,” Scott Rueck said. “Then give them credit for not giving us two. They did a great job on the defensive boards which put a lot of pressure on our shooters, and then it got to seven, and then we were pressing and I thought we took maybe one rushed shot during that stretch. But I really liked our execution, and I thought we got the looks. But in this game today, we had to be near flawless, and we just weren’t able. We just weren’t quite flawless enough.”

Johnson added four more free throws down the stretch, going a perfect 5-5 from the stripe. She finished with a team-high 15 points on a career-high shot attempts.

South Carolina tied its worst-shooting games of the season, hitting just 33.3%, the same as it had against Tennessee on March 3. It was just 4-20 from three and 16-36 on layups. 

Te-Hina Paopao led the nation in three-point shooting at 47%, but hit just 1-7 on Sunday and was 2-10 overall. Paopao finished with five points and five rebounds.

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Oregon State played a lot of zone, and South Carolina got good looks, but but aside from Tessa Johnson’s 2-5, the shots wouldn’t go in. But South Carolina perservered. 

“The odds said that we shouldn’t make it back to the Final Four. Just proud of our team and for them believing in themselves,” Staley said. “They created a certain level of chemistry and culture, and they stuck with it, and then they allowed us to coach them. They trusted us to coach them, even when it didn’t feel good to them personally at different times of the season.”

Cardoso finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Bree Hall also finished with double figures, scoring 10 points. Ashlyn Watkins had struggled in the NCAA Tournament, so Staley put her back in her normal reserve rol and Watkins had eight points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks.

Notes:

South Carolina wore its standard home white uniforms. The Gamecocks also wore them in the first round and then wore the “Cocky” alternates in the last two rounds. … The All-Tournament team was Kamilla Cardoso, Raven Johnson, Sydney Parrish, Raegan Beers, and Timea Gardiner. My ballot was the same. … South Carolina finished plus-14 on the glass. … The Gamecocks had 12 points off 12 Oregon State turnovers, and tied its season-low with six turnovers. … Dawn Staley’s outfit: Staley wore all black with a zip-up Gucci pullover. … Announced attendance was 13,568. South Carolina advances to the Final Four where the Gamecocks will play either Texas or NC State on Friday.

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