South Carolina women's basketball's center of attention, Kamilla Cardoso
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It wasn’t quite as dramatic as when she banked in a three at the buzzer to beat Tennessee. But when South Carolina was on the ropes against Indiana, Kamilla Cardoso got them a bucket.
On Friday, she drew a double-team and kicked the ball out to Raven Johnson for a game-saving three-pointer. It was a redemption basket for Johnson, but for Cardoso, it was just another routine play.
“They passed it to me, right?” she asked. “We have a really good chemistry. We’ve played together for eight years, guys.”
That play capped off another outstanding game for Cardoso. She had 22 points on 10-12 shooting, a game-high seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks. In the postseason Cardoso is averaging 14.4 points.
At 6-7, Cardoso is a mismatch for most teams. This season she is even more of a mismatch because she passes so well. Opponents have to double-team her, and Cardoso instinctively knows where her open teammates are.
Oregon State has its own very talented post, Raegan Beers. Beers averages 17.5 points and 10.3 rebounds. But she is only 6-4.
The Pac-12 is deep at the center position and Beers has faced big centers like Lauren Betts and Cameron Brink. She had 21 points against UCLA and 18 and 17 against Stanford (in another game against UCLA Beers only played seven minutes so it doesn’t count).
“She’s a great player. She works really hard on her post-ups,” Cardoso said. “She’s good on both ends of the floor. She does a lot of work early so we’ve got to play our defense, do our work early, try to front her.”
Cardoso‘s hidden strength might be how quickly she gets up and down the floor. Staley has raved about Cardoso’s ability to get from basket to basket in a hurry.
“Rim-running is always a part of the game plan,” Cardoso said. “It doesn’t matter who we play we try to rim-run and get some easy buckets.
Beers is not. She is much slower getting up and down the court and could struggle to keep up with Cardoso.
The Gamecocks hope Cardoso gets how again, and they will ride her as much as they can.
“Kamilla had a great game and she did all of the inside work,” Chloe Kitts said. “That’s what we needed from her.”
