Raven Johnson's college career will end where it started, with a national title on the line
PHOENIX (AP) — Raven Johnson was a bright-eyed freshman when South Carolina won the national championship in 2022. While veterans Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke had competed on the big stage, Johnson had no grasp of the magnitude of the moment. “I was looking at it as a trip, a little vacation trip,” Johnson said Saturday.
“I'd seen the first gift like, ‘This is what we get in a Final Four? I need to start coming back here more. ’ I wasn’t thinking about basketball.
I was thinking about vacation. ” Johnson's perspective has changed in the past four years, now that she's the veteran on a Gamecocks team going for its third national title in five seasons. South Carolina will face UCLA on Sunday for the championship.
“Now I think of it as a business trip,” Johnson said. “I’m used to being here. You've got to lock in.
You've got to buy into the process. And I'm trying to instill that to the younger girls who are here: Enjoy the moment while you’re here, because moments like this don’t happen forever. ” It seems like they do for Johnson.