South Carolina women's basketball is heading to its seventh straight SEC Championship game. Senior guard Raven Johnson has been with the team for the last five, but her efforts in Saturday's semifinal win over LSU topped any previous outing.
Her 22 points were a career-high and led the Gamecocks to an 83-77 victory on Saturday at Bon Secours Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.
When South Carolina traveled to Baton Rouge on Feb. 14 for its first matchup with LSU, the Gamecocks trailed 21-16 after the first quarter. That script flipped on Saturday when the team jumped out to a 21-17 lead after the first period.
Johnson dropped 7, trailing only senior guard Ta'Niya Latson's 10-point quarter.
"(Raven is) poised. She's calm. She's been here," Latson said. "Just to have a leader like that in the huddle and on the floor, it gives a certain confidence, especially when she has the ball in her hands."
The Gamecocks were outscored in the second quarter and entered halftime trailing by 4. It was the second time South Carolina trailed at half this season, joining only its loss to Texas on Nov. 27. It was also the first time the team trailed by multiple scores at the break.
Senior center Madina Okot had four rebounds in the first quarter, but two personal fouls limited her availability in the first half.
She had played just seven minutes by halftime, and it showed, with the Gamecocks' 15 total rebounds trailing the Tigers' 24. South Carolina had been outscored in the paint 24-16 at the game's midway point, helping LSU end the second quarter on a 9-2 run.
Thankfully, Raven Johnson happened in the third. The Gamecock point guard scored 12 points on a perfect 100% (5-5) shooting, knocking down two 3-pointers in the process.
Johnson dished out two assists in the quarter as well, meaning all but two of South Carolina's buckets in the third were generated by her. Having won the quarter by 9, the Gamecocks entered the fourth with a 5-point lead.
"I'm thinking about winning," Johnson said. "If I've got to defend, if I've got to score, whatever it takes. If I've got to rebound, that's what I'll do. I'm just thinking about winning."
What it took to win in the fourth quarter was for Johnson to become a facilitator. After posting 22 points through three quarters, she took just one shot in the fourth. She assisted on five buckets for South Carolina in the fourth quarter, half of the team's total makes in the period.
"She's a floor general," Latson said. "PG 1, best point guard in the country."
Senior forward Maryam Dauda scored the first points of the fourth quarter with a bucket that brought the Gamecocks' lead to 7. The score was Dauda's only attempt of the game.
"Honestly, seeing Raven in practice every day, her determination and her look when the game is on the line, she carries us through the finish line," Dauda said. "I feel like that rubs off on everybody else, that, 'If she's doing it, we have to follow along,' and I feel like that was what happened today."
Johnson finished the game with 22 points on 64.2% (9-14) from the field, eight assists, four 3-pointers and three rebounds. The new personal scoring best tops her previous career-high set in none other than the team's Feb. 14 matchup with LSU.
"I've been doing this. I just added a little bit more to my game, which is scoring," Johnson said. "Last season, I didn't like the way I played and approached the game. I think I approach the game a little different, and I'm seeing what I put in, the work. That's what Coach always tells me. You want to produce, you've got to put in the work."
This season, she has averaged double-digit points for the first time in her career.
"Three years ago, last year, she would have never shot six 3's," head coach Dawn Staley said. "Ever. Even if she was open. Even if she felt good about it. But (she's a) game winner. Game-winning plays."
Saturday's game-winning effort from Johnson helped South Carolina to its 19th straight win over the Tigers and to its seventh straight SEC Championship game.
The Gamecocks will face Texas at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, a rematch from 2025's championship. South Carolina earned a 64-45 win in that game, its ninth conference championship victory in the past 11 seasons.