‘Always ready’ Raven Johnson flashes potential for South Carolina in Final Four loss

Aliyah Boston, the face of South Carolina women’s basketball the past four seasons, had four words for teammate Raven Johnson on Friday night at American Airlines Center:

“This is your team.”

Consider it the first of many bittersweet but expected handoffs: The passing of batons from one USC player to another after a 77-73 loss to Iowa that simultaneously ended the Gamecocks’ undefeated season in the Final Four while offering a glimpse at their program’s future.

To Boston, it’s bright — even if her last game with the rest of South Carolina’s formative, top-ranked 2019 recruiting class here in Dallas felt like “an end of an era.”

And a look at the stat sheet in front of her confirmed why.

Johnson, USC’s redshirt freshman backup point guard, had turned in her best overall performance of the season in defeat: 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, a career high three 3-pointers, four rebounds, two assists and a single turnover in an NCAA Tournament-high 29 minutes.

Not the worst way to end things for a former No. 2 overall recruit widely expected to assume Kierra Fletcher’s ever-important role as coach Dawn Staley’s starting point guard next season.

“For the big games, Raven is always ready,” Boston said. “She does a great job of trying to pass the ball, making other people open, making other people feel included. Tonight she stepped up. She hit some really big threes for us. Did a great job running the point position when Coach had her in. I think she just steps up. That’s just who she is.”

USC’s point guard transition from Fletcher to Johnson is one of many facing the 2022 national champions this offseason. South Carolina could lose up to seven seniors and “super seniors,” including all five members of its memorable 2019 recruiting class dubbed “The Freshies.”

Boston, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson capped their four-year USC careers with a 129-9 record, six combined SEC titles, three consecutive Final Fours and one national championship. (South Carolina was also 32-1 and ranked No. 1 before the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)

But with most — if not all — of those players likely to move on to the WNBA or other professional opportunities with super seniors Fletcher and Victaria Saxton, Staley’s anticipating a dramatic roster overhaul.

And she’s not daunted by it she said after Friday’s loss to Iowa, which got 41 points from star Caitlin Clark to advance to Sunday’s national championship game against LSU.

“We’re not going to have the same team,” Staley said. “We’re going to have a different team that has different characteristics, that has different players. They’re going to be put in positions that will fill a void that’s going to be left by some of our seniors. So I look forward to that challenge.”

Johnson, who missed all but two games of her true freshman season with a torn ACL, is South Carolina’s most intriguing returner. Despite ceding her starting position to Fletcher, a Georgia Tech transfer, early this season, she ended up playing the fifth most minutes of anyone on the roster, leading USC in total assists (123) and making the SEC All-Freshman Team.

The 5-foot-8 guard’s talents were quite evident in USC’s Elite Eight and Final Four games, during which she averaged 10.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in 27.0 minutes per game (essentially a starting role without a starter designation).

“Aliyah and the Freshies class, the way they talk to me and show me what leadership is and show me what pro habits are … I cherish that every day,” Johnson said. “And just Aliyah being in my ear gives me confidence. Also, there’s not a day that Coach Staley isn’t in my ear, and she also helps me with confidence.”

Other top returners for South Carolina include reigning SEC Sixth Woman of the Year Kamilla Cardoso (9.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg), who was technically eligible for the 2023 WNBA Draft because she turns 22 years old this calendar year, and sophomore guard Bree Hall (6.4 ppg, 35.9 3PT%).

The Gamecocks could get a big boost if Amihere (7.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) opts to return for a fifth and final season. Sophomore forward Sania Feagin, the No. 4 overall recruit in the Class of 2021, flashed her potential by leading USC in points per 40 minutes off the bench and could assume a starting role with Boston formally declaring for the WNBA Draft on Saturday.

And don’t forget South Carolina’s three true freshmen and three incoming freshmen — plus any players Staley recruits out of the transfer portal, which she’s done with success the past two seasons in Cardoso (Syracuse) and Fletcher (Georgia Tech).

Sitting at the podium after USC’s third consecutive Final Four appearance and her second in a row, Johnson said she expects similar results for the Gamecocks in 2023-24.

“It was good just being out there,” she said. “We didn’t come out with the outcome (we wanted). I really wanted to win for the seniors but, yeah, I have more years to come. So we’re definitely going to be back.”