After being humiliated in the 2023 national semis, Raven Johnson's defense Sunday cooled off Caitlin Clark and helped bring the Gamecocks the title.
Dawn Staley converts her biggest challenge of the transition to a young roster into the rich reward of a national title fueled by South Carolina's depth, trust and talent. Jake Trotter covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2011 covering college football. Before that, he worked at The Oklahoman, Austin American-Statesman and Middletown Journal newspapers. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Trotter., Johnson scored just three points and missed 10 shots.
Johnson didn't let that moment go. Instead, it fueled her through her sophomore season. Immediately after Iowa defeated UConn in the Final Four on Friday, Johnson texted Hall and said it was time for their"get back" game. Raven Johnson hit just one field goal in Sunday's win, but her defense helped cool off a red-hot Caitlin Clark in the national championship game. The final play of the first half underscored it all. Clark dribbled the ball upcourt, hoping to hold possession for the final shot to potentially give the Hawkeyes a halftime lead. Instead, Johnson swiped the ball away and drove in for the layup.
"For Raven, I think it was psychologically helpful to be able to play Iowa and Caitlin, to just release. As a player, you want to release certain things that have held you captive. And I do think the waving off in the Final Four last year held her captive. . ... It's pretty cool that Raven was able to just kind of check off a goal and move forward."
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