Raven Johnson's 22 points lift No. 3 South Carolina past No. 6 LSU 83-77 in SEC Tournament semis
Raven Johnson scored a career-high 22 points, Joyce Edwards scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half and No. 3 South Carolina displayed its toughness by holding on to beat sixth-ranked LSU 83-77 on Saturday to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Raven Johnson had a career-high 22 points, Joyce Edwards scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half and No. 3 South Carolina displayed its mettle by holding on to beat sixth-ranked LSU 83-77 on Saturday to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
Ta’Niya Latson added 19 points for the Gamecocks, who are seeking their fourth straight SEC Tournament title and 10th in the past 12 seasons under coach Dawn Staley. South Carolina (31-2) will face the winner of No. 4 Texas and No. 24 Mississippi on Sunday.
South Carolina transfer MiLaysia Fulwiley had 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting and Jada Richard added 17 for LSU (27-5), which lost to the Gamecocks for the second time this season.
In what essentially amounted to another home game for the Gamecocks at the packed 15,000-seat Bon Secours Wellness Arena, it was LSU that looked at home early.
Fulwiley, who had just six points on 1-of-8 shooting against South Carolina in the first meeting, erupted for 15 in the first half to give LSU a 40-36 lead at the break.
But the poised Gamecocks opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run to regain the lead. It looked for a moment like things might get away, but LSU came storming back as Fulwiley drilled a pull-up 3 to tie the game with 7 minutes remaining.
Edwards took over from there.
Recommended for you
She hit a jumper in the lane with 6:41 left to give the Gamecocks the lead for good and scored six of South Carolina's points during a pivotal 8-3 run.
With the Gamecocks leading by five with 45 seconds left, LSU inexplicably elected not to foul and allowed 30 seconds to run off before Madina Okot scored on a spinning layup with 15 seconds left to beat the shot clock and seal the win.
Up next
LSU: Awaits NCAA Tournament seeding.
South Carolina: Will play for the SEC Tournament championship.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.