If a South Carolina fan was scripting the Gamecocks’ redemptive national championship game victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes, a key plot point likely would have been a made 3-pointer (or two or three) from Raven Johnson.
Johnson has been transparent about how what happened in last year’s Final Four game—the infamous wave off from Caitlin Clark—ignited her intention to improve. Since the season began, Johnson has fired away with confidence, hitting almost 37 percent of her 3-point attempts for the season. In the NCAA Tournament, she had been even better, making nearly 54 percent of her triples through the Final Four. And so, the perfect denouement for the Gamecocks’ revenge tour would have been Johnson draining one of her now-signature swish-twirl-kiss corner 3s, a dagger that delivered South Carolina another national title.
Instead, Johnson went empty from behind the arc on Sunday afternoon, an 0-for-4 performance. For the game, she managed only three points, making just one shot from the field. Yet, the missed shots did little to deter Johnson from her ultimate mission: shutting down Caitlin Clark.
While the story of Johnson’s season has been her offensive growth, she showed that her defense also should not be doubted. When guarded by Johnson, Clark, widely…
