Raven Johnson had an emotional Sunday afternoon. South Carolina’s senior point guard walked for senior day alongside her family, heard a touching tribute video on the jumbotron voiced by her mom then helped South Carolina beat Kentucky 78-66 to clinch another SEC Championship.

So was it her last regular season game at Colonial Life Arena? It’s complicated.

“You never know,” Johnson said with a smile post-game. “We’ve got to wait and see.”

Johnson tore her ACL early in her true freshman season, eventually taking a redshirt for the 2021-22 campaign. The redshirt means that while she just finished her fourth season on campus, she still is eligible for a fifth season if she wants it.

Of course the point guard from the winningest senior class in program history is also WNBA eligible, and has a decision to make before the Apr. 14 draft.

“For me it’s a personal choice,” head coach Dawn Staley said about her two players still with decisions. “Obviously Raven makes us a better basketball team. Raven is a winner. If she comes back, it increases our chances of winning a lot more basketball games. If she doesn’t I’m sure the WNBA will welcome her.”

Her teammate Sakima Walker also could return for one more year, but through a different loophole. Walker spent one year at a junior college, and due to the NCAA’s ruling that JUCO years do not count against eligibility after Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia filed a lawsuit, Walker also could return for another year.

But after averaging just over two minutes per game this season as the last player on the bench — plus the reality of this being her fifth year in college — it is possible Walker will just decide to move on.

While Staley stressed again she is not going to push her players either way, she does have a timetable in mind.

“Hopefully they’ll make a decision in a timely fashion so that we’ll know what we need when the transfer portal opens up and we can concentrate on that,” she said. “There’s room for both of them to return, but I’m going to let them decide on their own accord. I’m not going to pressure them to do it. It’s just if they come back and we’ve already been in the portal, we’re just going to have a lot more on the roster than probably we would like.”

The transfer portal opens on Mar. 25, and closes Apr. 23.

South Carolina will open its SEC Tournament run at noon on Friday in Greenville against either Vanderbilt, Tennessee or Arkansas.

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