The South Carolina women’s basketball team has barely been in the offseason for three full weeks. The Gamecocks have been busy, including the return of veteran guard Raven Johnson for another year.

She was non-committal when asked about her future as a Gamecock all the way up until she announced her intentions to return in early April.

“She had no choice. We weren’t going to let her leave,” Adhel Tac joked at the Gamecock Gala awards recognition.

Though there were moments where Johnson’s future with the Gamecocks was unclear, Joyce Edwards had a feeling she’d be back in Columbia for one last season. “I feel like I always knew, so I wasn’t really preparing my emotions for her to leave,” Edwards said.

South Carolina’s Raven Johnson claps back at Indiana player’s roster weakness remarks

University of South Carolina’s Raven Johnson (25) dances with teammate Bree Hall (23) after the Gamecocks advanced to the Sweet 16 Round game of the NCAA Tournament at the Colonial Life Arena on Sunday, March 23, 2025.
 (Tracy Glantz/[email protected])

The day before the South Carolina-Indiana matchup in the secound round of the NCAA Tournament, Hoosiers veteran Sydney Parrish gave the Gamecocks some bulletin board material — whether she meant to or not.

Parrish essentially said that South Carolina’s absence of a larger post player would be an advantage to the Hoosiers, especially after Indiana lost by just four points when the two teams played in the Sweet 16 last year.

“Without a 6-7 kid in there with Kamilla Cardoso (gone) and Ashlyn Watkins being injured at the beginning of this year, that definitely helps us,” Parrish said. “We are not as tall as they are. I think that we have the strength of maybe trying to play a little bit smarter than them and knowing when to pick and choose, when to double, when to help off certain people, when to push the ball, and try to play fast and when to try and tempo it down a little bit.

“But they are different, which helps us. But we do know that we only lost to them by two points last year.”

South Carolina’s lack of a 6-foot-7 post player ultimately made no difference in the game’s outcome. The Gamecocks beat Indiana 64-53 on Sunday to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16.

“That actually made a lot of us mad because we’re more than Kamilla and Ash,” Raven Johnson, unprompted, told reporters in Sunday’s postgame locker room.

Indiana led for nine minutes in the game and even took a 26-25 lead into halftime. South Carolina took control of the game in the second half, thanks in part to a run kick-started by a 6-foot-2 Chloe Kitts in the beginning of the third quarter.

“People said we don’t have dominant big,” Johnson said. “… I know y’all saw the press conference of what the Indiana girl said: that we were weren’t gonna win without Ashlyn or Kamilla.

“We don’t need Ashlyn or Kamilla to win. We got a whole team of dogs to go out here and win. We don’t need no Ashlyn we don’t need no Kamilla. We’ve got MiLaysia (Fulwiley), we got Tessa (Johnson). I could name the whole roster — we’ve got dogs on this team.”

South Carolina’s forwards finished with a combined 25 points and 20 rebounds in the game. Kitts had a double-double on 10 points and 11 rebounds. Sania Feagin tallied 10 points and three rebounds. while Joyce Edwards scored five points and had six rebounds.

Parrish’s comments made some sense given South Carolina’s history of success with a dominant big. The Gamecocks have been led by the likes of A’ja Wilson, Alaina Coates and Aliyah Boston in recent years. Cardoso was just the latest example.

Cardoso was an All-American last year and parlayed a 14.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game into a being the No. 3 overall pick in the WNBA Draft. Watkins, listed at 6-foot-3, seemed to be the heir apparent to Cardoso in the paint but tore her ACL and was ruled out for the year early in SEC play.

South Carolina does still have taller post players on the roster in Adhel Tac (6-5), Sakima Walker (6-5) and Maryam Dauda (6-4), but all play sparingly.

Meanwhile, Parrish was held to six points in Sunday’s loss, about half her season average, and had a game-high four fouls.

South Carolina heard all the chatter about what they don’t have. They’re more concerned with everything they do have.