Five-star Atlanta point guard commits to Dawn Staley, Gamecocks’ loaded 2021 class

The final birdie in Dawn Staley’s nest has revealed herself.

Raven Johnson, a five-star point guard in the class of 2021, announced her commitment to South Carolina on Thursday, making her the fourth pledge in the class for the Gamecocks.

Johnson is ranked No. 13 overall in the class of 2021 by ESPN, and No. 2 at the point guard position. Prospects Nation rates her at No. 24, and All-Star Girls Report has her at No. 23.

Back in May, Staley announced four commitments with her usual “birdie in the nest” tweets. Over the next several weeks, those commits revealed themselves to be guard Saniya Rivers out of Wilmington, North Carolina, guard Bree Hall out of Dayton, Ohio, and forward Sania Feagin, out of Ellenwood, Georgia. Johnson is the last to publicly announce her choice.

Rivers is ranked No. 3 in the class by ESPN, with Feagin at No. 6 and Hall at No. 26. With Johnson at No. 13, South Carolina is the only program to have four top 100 commitments and is very likely to contend for the nation’s No. 1 class for the second time in three years.

Johnson, a 5-foot-8 Atlanta native, has been on South Carolina’s radar for quite some time. She was offered by the Gamecocks in July 2018 and has taken visits to USC several times, including twice this past season.

Named the Georgia Player of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Johnson has won three state championships with powerhouse Westlake. As a junior, she averaged 15 points, 4.3 steals and 3.9 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game. Her squad finished this past year nationally ranked.

As a sophomore, Johnson averaged 27.2 points., 9.0 rebounds., 3.4 assists. and 3.5 steals per game. She was also named one of 18 finalists for the 2019 USA Women’s U16 National Team.

Johnson will join a line of talented point guards to join the Gamecocks in the past half-decade or so — the recently graduated Tyasha Harris led USC to a national title as a freshman, set the program’s all-time assists record and developed into a top-10 WNBA draft pick.

Rising junior Destanni Henderson was rated as a top-10 player overall in her recruiting class and the top point guard overall. She was named to the SEC’s All-Freshman team and was a key role player off the bench this past season. And rising sophomore Zia Cooke was also on the SEC’s All-Freshman team and started every game of her rookie campaign.