ALBANY, N.Y. — So, the Gamecocks survive. After letting a 22-point lead slip all the way down to two, South Carolina came up with a 79-75 win over Indiana in the Sweet 16 at MVP Arena in Albanay to advance to the Elite Eight. Gamecocks will play Oregon State on Sunday afternoon for a spot in the Final Four, but have a lot to clean up on following this one.
Here's what I was able to gather from players in open locker room today:
"I was really happy when she let it go. She's been working on that, and I'm just really happy she had the confidence to shoot it and knock it down. I'm just really proud of her for doing that. When she's in rhythm, she's going to make it."
On the play originally being designed for Kamilla:
"Kamilla is a really good passer. She's underrated for that. She found the open person and Raven knocked it down."
On what the problems were offensively when IU came back:
"I didn't think we moved the ball as well as we usually do. We didn't really share the ball. But I thought we did a really good job executing plays to get the ball to Kamilla, and I'm just really glad she was able to execute it."
On the mentality going forward:
"The response is we made it to Sunday. The response is hey, we don't want to feel like that ever again. We felt like that during the Tennessee game, and we all know what happened after the Tennessee game. I would say we went on a winning streak, but we've been winning all year. But our last couple games after Tennessee we played our best basketball, so hopefully we can play our best basketball in the next few days as well."
On what Dawn said in the timeout before the Raven 3:
Get the ball to Kamilla, and Kamilla if you get double-teamed find the open person. We had felt like that before, so we were composed, we were calm, so we weren't really in a rush. We weren't jittery, we've been here before."
"I trusted it. I was like, 'Come on Raven. You do you, girl.'"
On what changed in the second half:
"I think in the first quarter we were getting more second chances, and we weren't this time. I can blame it on myself too because I need to go rebound. But I would say the ball was sticking too much."
On mentality going forward:
"We learn from our mistakes, but obviously the next game is in two days so we have to move on from it fast. But we have to take what we can and again learn from it and scout Oregon State."
"I hoped it went in, but if it didn't I was going to get the rebound."
On Raven's mentality late:
"Confident. Just making sure that we aren't all over our heads or like down. She just keeps us level-headed, to be honest."
On if a game like that can be good for them:
"A little bit, but teams aren't going to just let us beat them. Indiana is a very good team, and they showed that today. They weren't just going to let us take them down."
On what happened in the second half:
"I saw that they wanted it. They were like, 'We can get in this game.' They just wanted it, but we had to keep our composure and be like, 'Let's finish this game.'"
On her thoughts when Raven shot it:
"Green light. I knew she was capable of hitting the shot. That was our last play against Tennessee before I fouled Jewel [Spear]. That was the same pass, same set, same pass to Raven for the 3, and I knew she wasn't going to miss two times in a row. I know Raven is capable of hitting that shot. I know she's a great shooter. She's been in the gym a lot. She spends hours in the gym, she's one of the last ones almost every day. I'm proud of her and proud of all the work she's putting in that's finally coming to light, and proud of what she did for this team today."
Here's what I was able to gather from players in open locker room today:
Te-Hina Paopao:
On her thoughts when Raven shot the crucial late 3-pointer, the biggest shot of the night:"I was really happy when she let it go. She's been working on that, and I'm just really happy she had the confidence to shoot it and knock it down. I'm just really proud of her for doing that. When she's in rhythm, she's going to make it."
On the play originally being designed for Kamilla:
"Kamilla is a really good passer. She's underrated for that. She found the open person and Raven knocked it down."
On what the problems were offensively when IU came back:
"I didn't think we moved the ball as well as we usually do. We didn't really share the ball. But I thought we did a really good job executing plays to get the ball to Kamilla, and I'm just really glad she was able to execute it."
On the mentality going forward:
"The response is we made it to Sunday. The response is hey, we don't want to feel like that ever again. We felt like that during the Tennessee game, and we all know what happened after the Tennessee game. I would say we went on a winning streak, but we've been winning all year. But our last couple games after Tennessee we played our best basketball, so hopefully we can play our best basketball in the next few days as well."
On what Dawn said in the timeout before the Raven 3:
Get the ball to Kamilla, and Kamilla if you get double-teamed find the open person. We had felt like that before, so we were composed, we were calm, so we weren't really in a rush. We weren't jittery, we've been here before."
Tessa Johnson:
On her thoughts when Raven took the shot:"I trusted it. I was like, 'Come on Raven. You do you, girl.'"
On what changed in the second half:
"I think in the first quarter we were getting more second chances, and we weren't this time. I can blame it on myself too because I need to go rebound. But I would say the ball was sticking too much."
On mentality going forward:
"We learn from our mistakes, but obviously the next game is in two days so we have to move on from it fast. But we have to take what we can and again learn from it and scout Oregon State."
Ashlyn Watkins:
On her thoughts when Raven let the shot go:"I hoped it went in, but if it didn't I was going to get the rebound."
On Raven's mentality late:
"Confident. Just making sure that we aren't all over our heads or like down. She just keeps us level-headed, to be honest."
On if a game like that can be good for them:
"A little bit, but teams aren't going to just let us beat them. Indiana is a very good team, and they showed that today. They weren't just going to let us take them down."
On what happened in the second half:
"I saw that they wanted it. They were like, 'We can get in this game.' They just wanted it, but we had to keep our composure and be like, 'Let's finish this game.'"
MiLaysia Fulwiley:
On her thoughts when Raven shot it:
"Green light. I knew she was capable of hitting the shot. That was our last play against Tennessee before I fouled Jewel [Spear]. That was the same pass, same set, same pass to Raven for the 3, and I knew she wasn't going to miss two times in a row. I know Raven is capable of hitting that shot. I know she's a great shooter. She's been in the gym a lot. She spends hours in the gym, she's one of the last ones almost every day. I'm proud of her and proud of all the work she's putting in that's finally coming to light, and proud of what she did for this team today."
