What Dawn Staley said Raven Johnson's career meant to South Carolina women's basketball
South Carolina women's basketball's Raven Johnson fell short of a historic 3rd national championship but that won't define her, Dawn Staley says.
PHOENIX — Raven Johnson started giving some fluff answers then she stopped herself. "I'll be honest, 'How do I stay motivated? ' I want to win," Johnson said.
It was the eve of the fifth-year point guard's fourth national championship game for South Carolina women's basketball and her message was as clear as it's been all season: take home another title. Less than 24 hours later, the Gamecocks ' season ended in a 79-51 defeat to UCLA on April 5. Instead of Johnson becoming the first player to win three championships for coach Dawn Staley , she watched another program win its first.
So how does Johnson, who won five SEC regular-season titles, went to five Final Fours, won three SEC Tournament championships and two national championships, not let the crushing defeat tell the story of what this final chapter was about? "We're never going to let one game define anyone," Staley said. "Raven has put our program on the top.
She made a promise of not only winning just one national championship but put us in position to win a lot more. We came up short but when you look at Raven, she won at a really high clip. " Johnson's career had a consistent theme.