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South Carolina women's basketball: Rapid Reaction - Texas

On3 imageby: Chris Wellbaum04/05/25ChrisWellbaum
South Carolina Gamecocks guard Tessa Johnson (5) reacts after defeating the Texas Longhorns during the semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
South Carolina Gamecocks guard Tessa Johnson (5) reacts after defeating the Texas Longhorns during the semifinal of the women's 2025 NCAA tournament at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

South Carolina beat Texas 74-57 to advance to the national championship game on Sunday. Here’s what stood out from the game.

– After the weekend in Birmingham, there were three players South Carolina wanted to get more from: Joyce Edwards, Te-Hina Paopao, and Tessa Johnson. All three stepped up on Friday.

Paopao led the Gamecocks with 14 points. Edwards flirted with a triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. And Johnson had nine points and, perhaps most important, drew two fouls on Madison Booker to send her to the bench.

I’ll have more on how they broke out this weekend, but I talked to all three and the common thread was that they stayed patient, played their game, and let the opportunities come to them.

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– South Carolina also got a huge game from Maryam Dauda. Chloe Kitts and Sania Feagin picked up some early fouls so Dawn Staley put Dauda in just to buy a few minutes. Instead Dauda played great and kept going back in, playing a season-high 16 minutes. 

Dauda finished with four points and three rebounds, the same things Kyla Oldacre finished with. That is a definite win for the Gamecocks.

– Raven Johnson had just two points and three assists, but her six rebounds were huge. Against 6-6 Oldacre and 6-4 Taylor Jones, South Carolina knew there weren’t going to be a lot of clean rebounds. It was going to take second and third efforts to grab loose balls.

All the Gamecocks took that to heart, especially Johnson, who was praised by Sania Feagin and Adhel Tac for her effort on the glass.

“The ball just seemed to fall in my hands,” Johnson told me after the game.

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