Dawn Staley knew this season would be different. “This is the first time we don’t have that go-to post-player in 10 years,” she admitted last October. No Kamilla Cardoso towering in the paint. No Ashlyn Watkins swatting shots at the rim. For the first time in a decade, South Carolina entered the NCAA Tournament without a dominant interior presence. But if there was ever any doubt about the Gamecocks’ ability to dominate, Indiana guard Sydney Parrish provided them with all the motivation they needed. The Gamecocks might have started slow, but by the second half, they made sure to remind everyone—the paint might be smaller, but the fight was bigger.
Back on Saturday, in a pregame press conference previewing the second-round matchup, Parrish made an observation that, while not intended as disrespect, certainly didn’t sit well with the Gamecocks.
“Without a 6-7 kid in there with Kamilla 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.”
South Carolina took note. And they took it personally.
“Oh, they’re very good,” Raven Johnson said after the game according to a post on X by Matt Dowell. “Before we came into this game, one of their players said… We only beat them by two points last year, and that’s because of Kamilla and Ash. And that actually made a lot of us mad because we’re more than a team than Kamilla and Ash. We have player one through player 13 that are dogs that can bring something different to the table.”
Raven Johnson said the team was aware of Sydney Parrish’s comments ahead of today’s game:
“That actually made a lot of us mad because we’re more than Kamilla and Ash. We have player 1 through player 13 that are dogs.”
She also gave Indiana their props as a team.@GamecockWBB pic.twitter.com/w3WGoMgvWw
— Matt Dowell (@MattDowellTV) March 23, 2025
Johnson wasn’t the only one who carried that chip into the game. Bree Hall made it clear that the comments stuck with her.
“I went to bed and read that article again and was like, ‘Oh, this is how you feel about us?’” Hall said. “For people like me and Raven, we need that extra motivation. We go into the game, and we always are already thinking about defense, but now you’ve given us a reason to be motivated.”
And it showed. South Carolina trailed at halftime, shooting just 34% in the first half. Indiana had the Gamecocks on their heels, leading 26-25 at the break. But if the Hoosiers thought their scouting report would hold up for 40 minutes, they were sorely mistaken.
What followed was an avalanche. South Carolina erupted for a 26-14 third quarter, hitting nine of their first ten shots to blow the game open. Chloe Kitts, who had been quiet in the first half, caught fire, scoring all ten of her points after halftime. Hall nailed a three-pointer to extend the lead. Sania Feagin imposed herself inside. By the time the dust settled, South Carolina had outscored Indiana 39-27 in the second half and secured a 64-53 victory.
“People say we don’t have these dominant bigs,” Johnson said. “I know you saw what was said, that we weren’t going to win without Ashlyn or Kamilla. We don’t need Ashlyn or Kamilla to win. We’ve got a whole team of dogs to win. I can name the whole roster. We’ve got dogs on this team.”
Dawn Staley, ever the architect, leaned into her veterans to get the job done. Now, for the 11th straight season, South Carolina is heading to the Sweet 16. Once again, it took a moment of doubt—one comment, one sentence, one suggestion that the Gamecocks were not the team they used to be—to ignite them.
And now, the rest of the field has been put on notice—or have they?
Dawn Staley’s wake-up call—or just a warning shot? South Carolina’s depth proves unshakable
For the first time this season, Dawn Staley’s squad showed cracks in their armor. South Carolina hit the locker room at halftime down by one. Their high-powered bench, which averages 42.2 points per game, mustered just 19. Star freshman Joyce Edwards, a double-digit scorer all season, was held to a mere five points. And yet—when the Gamecocks finally flipped the switch, it was game over.
NCAA, College League, USA Womens Basketball: SEC Conference Tournament Quarterfinal – Vanderbilt vs South Carolina Mar 7, 2025 Greenville, SC, USA South Carolina Gamecocks forward Chloe Kitts 21 high fives a teammate after drawing a foul against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Greenville Bon Secours Wellness Arena SC USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xJimxDedmonx 20250307_jla_db2_073
They exploded in the third quarter, scoring more points in those 10 minutes than they had in the entire first half. Veteran guard Bree Hall led the way with 11 points, while forwards Chloe Kitts and Sania Feagin stepped up with 10 each. Indiana’s plan had been to exploit South Carolina’s lack of a dominant post presence. Instead, they ran headfirst into a roster that doesn’t rely on any one player to carry the load.
It’s what makes South Carolina the most balanced team left in the bracket. An oft-repeated stat is that their top two scorers—Edwards (13.4 PPG) and sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley (12.1 PPG)—come off the bench. The Gamecocks don’t just have depth; they have breadth. They rank 10th in scoring offense (81.3 PPG) and second in scoring margin (23.8 PPG). No one on this roster needs to drop more than 10 points for them to win. They do it by committee.
Against Indiana, South Carolina’s usual offensive stars had an off night. But the Gamecocks didn’t blink. Their strength is in numbers, and when one or two players go cold, there’s always another ready to step up. The first half was a wake-up call. The second half was a message to the rest of the bracket: You might land a punch on South Carolina. But can you survive when they start swinging back?
“It wasn’t pretty,” Staley admitted. “But at this time, it doesn’t have to be. You’ve just got to score more points than the other team and work the kinks out as we advance into the tournament.”
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