COLUMBIA — As the crowd honored South Carolina women’s basketball redshirt junior Raven Johnson on Sunday, it began chanting three words.
“One more year,” Colonial Life Arena roared.
Johnson, who is part of the 2021 recruiting class with Bree Hall and Sania Feagin, tore an ACL in November of her freshman season and was given a redshirt year as a result. She’s been with the program for four years but has played only three seasons, which gives her the option to return next year.
Coach Dawn Staley said after the 78-66 win against No. 14 Kentucky (22-6, 11-5) that Johnson hasn’t made a decision.
“It was a moment of joy, just hearing the people say ‘one more year’ but you never know, we’ll have to wait and see,” Johnson said when directly asked.
The No. 6 Gamecocks (26-3, 15-1 SEC) honor every senior each year during the last regular-season home game. Last season, Te-Hina Paopao walked out with her family and was honored but returned for her fifth season. Former starting center Kamilla Cardoso had the choice to return for this season but opted to declare for the WNBA draft and ended up being the No. 3 overall pick.
“Classy touch by the fams (nickname for South Carolina’s fan),” Staley said of the chants. “For me, it’s a personal choice, so I’m not going to push her either way. I’m just going to let her and her family decide what they want to do. Obviously Raven make us a better basketball team. Raven is a winner. She comes back, it increases our chances of winning a lot more basketball games. If she doesn’t, I’m sure the WNBA will welcome her, probably not as well as we would if she came back, but Raven is going to be a pro whether it’s coming out this year or next year. We’re going to let her and her family decide on when she wants to go.”
Johnson is in her second season as the starting point guard for South Carolina. She’s often tasked with guarding the opponent’s best defender and is averaging a team-high in assists with 2.9 and steals with 1.6 per game. Johnson, Feagin and Hall join Cardoso as the only players in program history with multiple NCAA titles. Feagin and Hall have no eligibility left after this season.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin
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