The Great Escape: Gamecocks Survive a Tiger King
The Great Escape: Gamecocks Survive a Tiger King Sized Scare
If you heard a collective gasp echoing from Greenville on Saturday afternoon, it wasn’t a mass reaction to concession stand prices—it was the sight of the No. 1 seed South Carolina Gamecocks actually trailing at halftime. For the first time since 2019 (a year when we still thought "social distancing" meant avoiding that one weird cousin at Thanksgiving), Dawn Staley’s squad looked... dare I say... human?
LSU entered the semifinals with a plan: play hard, shoot wild, and hope the Gamecocks forgot they were the final boss of the SEC. At the half, the Tigers held a four-point lead, and Kim Mulkey’s signature sequins were blindingly optimistic. Coach Staley, ever the stoic architect of doom, later admitted she felt "good" being down only four, mostly because she figured they deserved to be down by a dozen. Talk about a glass-half-full approach to a leaking boat.
Raven’s Revenge (and Joyce’s Join-In)
The second half began, and South Carolina decided they were finished with the "adversity" subplot. Raven Johnson, who apparently decided that her senior year should be played on "God Mode," dropped a career-high 22 points. Before this season, the knock on Raven was that she didn’t score enough. Now? She’s scoring against LSU like she has a personal vendetta against the state of Louisiana.
Not to be outdone, Joyce Edwards put up a casual 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Ta’Niya Latson chipped in 19. It turns out that when you have three players scoring like they're playing against a hoop the size of a hula hoop, things tend to go your way.
The LSU "Teaching Moment"
While South Carolina was busy punching their ticket to a seventh straight SEC title game, LSU was busy having what Coach Mulkey calls a "teaching moment." With 45 seconds left and trailing by five, the Tigers had two fouls to give. The plan? Trap, steal, or foul.
Instead, LSU did... none of that. They watched 23 seconds of clock evaporate like a puddle in a Mojave July. The Gamecocks eventually called timeout just to end the awkwardness. Mulkey kept the team in the locker room post-game for a little educational seminar, likely titled: "How to Foul People 101." > "We just don't do it," Mulkey lamented. She is now 0-7 against Staley. At this point, Dawn Staley might be legally required to list Kim Mulkey as a dependent on her tax returns.
The Verdict
South Carolina moves on to the championship on March 8, seeking their fourth straight title and their 20th consecutive win over the Tigers. They are resilient, they are exhausted, and they are still the undisputed queens of the court.
LSU is "so close," but in the SEC, "close" only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and trying to find a parking spot at the stadium.
