GREENVILLE, S.C. — On a championship podium at Bon Secours Wellness Arena — just about the most familiar place a South Carolina women’s basketball player could possibly be — starting point guard Raven Johnson locked eyes with assistant coach Khadijah Sessions.
Simultaneously, like a rehearsed final number of a play, they said the same thing.
Seatbelt gang. With the appropriate slashing motion across their chests, of course.
No. 5 South Carolina's 64-45 win over No. 1 Texas was the epitome of the phrase, as the Longhorns were strapped in, unable to move and completely locked up.
Except in this case the “seat belt” was just relentless ball pressure, tight paint packing and a tenacious effort on SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker, a 4-of-13 shooting performance.
“We knew we had to lock in and focus on Madison,” forward Joyce Edwards said. “We knew the Texas legs would be a little bit dead.”
This performance was the ultimate confirmation that even through some struggles, off stretches of play and even three losses, South Carolina’s (30-3) ceiling is exactly as high as it was last year.
On two separate occasions, the Gameoccks held the Longhorns without a made field goal for over seven minutes. They gave up 14 made field goals the entire game, and only one from beyond the arc. Booker never had space to breathe, the Kyla Oldacre threat that ultimately made the difference in the February match-up was nowhere to be found and even the Texas (31-3) scores felt like pulling teeth.
It was an exhausting game to play against the team with more depth than anyone, and the breathless Longhorns were well out of gas before they could cobble together any kind of rally.
When the Gamecocks defend like this, nobody is beating them.
“We didn't play our best basketball when we lost to them in Austin,” MiLaysia Fulwiley said. “When we're all determined and locked in and wanting to win, no one can stop us. I think that kind of showed today, because we wanted this one badly."
At times, by their own admission, this South Carolina team has had mental lapses. Even in Friday’s quarterfinal win over Vanderbilt, the post-game theme was about a lack of focus in the second half after relaxing with a 25-point lead. Similar wobbly stretches at Alabama and Tennessee yielded questions from Staley herself.
Even with a year more maturity and a National Championship, it still resembled that daycare vibe of 2024.
When they lock in for 40 minutes, though? The best version of South Carolina is capable of making the top-ranked team in the country turn in the joint-lowest scoring game in SEC Tournament title game history, and it all stemmed from the seniors.
“We don't win this game without the contributions of Bree Hall and Raven Johnson,” Staley said. “The defense, the attention to detail, and the execution of it, we don’t [win]. We put those two in positions of basically quarterbacking our defense.”
Replicating that level of defense will be difficult. South Carolina could cut down a net in Tampa in April, and Sunday’s win still might end up being the best shutdown performance all year.
But in what Staley always calls the one thing you can control, a part of basketball you can lock in on regardless of shooting percentage or officiating or anything else, the Gamecocks brought their absolute best in the biggest game of the season to date. Really all weekend, holding a potent Vanderbilt offense well below its season scoring average on Friday and keeping Oklahoma in check in the semifinals.
“Shoutout to Breezy for setting the tone early for us defensively,” Te-Hina Paopao said. “When you see your teammate work like that, you want to work hard for her. Everyone got in and locked in on defense, and I'm just really happy for us."
Shoot well, and you can beat most teams. Defend that well, and you will beat everyone.
And if there was any doubt before Sunday, South Carolina is capable of beating everyone.
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