ALBANY, N.Y. — They’re back.
For the fourth year in a row and sixth time in 10 seasons, South Carolina women’s basketball is heading to the Final Four.
The ultimate concluding destination of every season for this program is always that last arena, the pinnacle of the sport. Paths are different and rosters change, but it never changes the mindset.
This particular path took its last required step to Cleveland with a 70-58 win over No. 3 seed Oregon State at MVP Arena in Albany, a game which much more resembled a rock fight than most of this explosive team is used to.
South Carolina (36-0) started the game 2-of-15 on 3-pointers, with plentiful wide open looks squandered. It was like pulling teeth trying to find any space within Oregon State’s (27-8) paint-packing zone, particularly after Raven Johnson picked up her second foul early in the second quarter and was not out there to direct traffic for most of the rest of the first half.
Lily Hansford and Donovyn Hunter combined to hit six 3-pointers to keep the Beavers afloat for large swaths of the game, even while their two bigs Timea Gardiner and Raegan Beers both battled foul trouble.
Midway through the third quarter the lead dwindled all the way down to two, the ball movement was stagnant and anyone in Gamecock nation could have been forgiven for experiencing some deja vu from Friday’s close shave against Indiana.
But when Raven Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer in the corner, it temporarily opened the floodgates. Tessa Johnson followed it up with a personal 5-0 run, and Sania Feagin scored four more to shoot a two-point lead out to 14 with a 12-0 run.
A confounding, topsy-turvy 80 minutes in Albany found its best pocket, four minutes of basketball worthy of a Final Four trip. It was fleeting, though, as the Beavers again trimmed the deficit back to four with under four minutes to play.
But this team, this group of five new starters completely turned over from last year’s team, would not be denied.
Ashlyn Watkins popped up with an enormous block, a sky-piercing swat which was her fourth of the day to go with eight points and 10 rebounds. Tessa Johnson broke the huddle on a timeout with her most clutch play of her career, a drive inside and a finish through contact. The freshman hit three free throws in the final minutes, and scored 12 of her 15 points in the second half. Raven only scored three points, but she had four assists in the second half alone, each one more crucial than the last.
And as the clock ticked away and a spirited Oregon State effort ran out of gas, the team which starts every season mapping out a path to the Final Four officially booked its ticket.
Dawn Staley formed a group hug with all of her assistants, confetti dropped, and the surest sign of all that the calendar is flipping to April hit the floor.
A ladder, as South Carolina cut down another net.
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