COLUMBIA, S.C. — Straight away, the chemistry was apparent.
Ta’Niya Latson drove inside, then dished it again to Raven Johnson for a wide-open 3-pointer that the veteran guard swished. On South Carolina’s subsequent possession, it was Johnson repaying the favor, grabbing a defensive rebound and tossing it up the court docket for Latson for a simple transition layup.
“She makes issues simpler. My intuition is to go her manner,” Johnson stated of Latson. “It’s like that. She brings out the very best in me, truthfully. She makes me play tougher.”
Johnson’s impulse to seek out Latson was developed years in the past. If it felt like these pair of guards had performed with one another earlier than, it’s as a result of they’ve. At Westlake Excessive Faculty — simply exterior of Atlanta, Georgia’s I-285 perimeter — Johnson and Latson shared the backcourt on two groups that gained state championships.
Then they spent just a few years aside. Johnson joined the South Carolina Gamecocks and, on account of an harm, watched from the bench as they gained the nationwide title in 2022. In the meantime, Latson completed her highschool profession in Plantation, Florida and was named the state’s prime participant. Latson turned a star at Florida State, profitable the USBWA Tamika Catchings Award as a freshman and main the nation in scoring final season as a junior. Johnson turned the Gamecocks place to begin guard and helped South Carolina win a 3rd nationwide title in 2024.
At FSU, Latson had the stats. At South Carolina, Johnson had the essential victories on huge levels in entrance of huge audiences. Regardless of the accolades and factors that she had piled up in Tallahassee, Latson needed what Johnson had. She needed to be a part of particular groups that contended for championships.
Whereas Florida State went to a few consecutive NCAA Tournaments throughout Latson’s time there, nobody who paid consideration to girls’s school basketball ever thought of them a nationwide championship contender. The very best the Seminoles had been ranked within the AP High 25 Ballot throughout Latson’s three years was twelfth, they usually by no means superior to the second weekend of March Insanity. Florida State, whereas good within the ACC, was largely an afterthought on the nationwide girls’s school basketball scene. They had been ignored and under-covered. Over the previous three years, FSU by no means averaged greater than 2,500 followers per recreation in a single season.
And so, Latson entered the switch portal final spring and dedicated to Daybreak Staley’s Gamecocks with out even visiting Columbia. She didn’t have to. Johnson advised her all the things she wanted to know in regards to the three-time nationwide champions, the squad that’s gained 9 of the final 11 SEC Tournaments, and this system that’s gone to 5 consecutive Remaining Fours.
On Monday evening in her first recreation in a South Carolina uniform, Latson bought to listen to and really feel the complete roar of the gang at Colonial Life Enviornment. She tallied 20 factors and 4 assists as No. 2 South Carolina ran away from Grand Canyon to win 94-54. It was an evening the place Latson bought to have her cake and eat it too — she bought a win in entrance of greater than 15,000 followers, she bought her stats, and she or he lastly bought to play alongside Johnson in a significant recreation once more.
As essentially the most veteran participant on South Carolina’s roster, Johnson appeared cool, calm and composed in Monday evening’s season-opener, and elated to play with Latson. En path to gathering 11 factors, eight rebounds and 7 assists, Johnson knocked down a single-game career-high-tying 3-pointers with three.
“I really feel like now we have an invisible string on the court docket. We discover one another, we’re at all times in search of one another. The chemistry is there. It’s been there since highschool,” Latson stated of Johnson. “So, simply seeing her knock down photographs, I’m actually pleased with her. I simply need to see her win this season, and, you already know, we’re going to do that collectively.
Winston Gandy is in his first season as Grand Canyon’s coach, however spent the previous two seasons as an assistant with South Carolina, usually working carefully with guards like Johnson. He is aware of how vital she is to the Gamecocks’ success, and needed to game-plan for her for the primary time.
“She’s a winner. You’ll be able to’t shut her down, as a result of she will be able to influence the sport in each methods,” Gandy stated. “She is the very best within the enterprise… Her offense jumpstarted numerous different individuals’s offense. Her capability to move, her capability to see the sport, her tempo, her tempo… Everyone would like to have a Raven.”
Tessa Johnson performed nicely too, registering 19 factors, 5 rebounds and three assists, usually flashing smoothness, management and different attributes that can probably at some point make her a primary spherical WNBA Draft choose.
The end result and the stats that got here with it for the Gamecocks could possibly be an indicator of how they could should play this season to achieve success. Whereas Staley was a stellar guard in her collegiate enjoying days — a two-time Nationwide Participant of the Yr, a three-time All-American, and the 1991 Most Excellent Participant on the Remaining 4 for Virginia — her groups at South Carolina have largely leaned on sturdy publish play on each ends of the ground. The Gamecocks have produced a few of the greatest facilities and forwards within the nation over the previous decade, from A’ja Wilson to Aliyah Boston to Kamilla Cardoso. For South Carolina, the offense ran via them and the protection was anchored by their presences.
Even in current seasons, the Gamecocks might rely on standouts like Sania Feagin, Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts within the paint. However Feagin is enjoying professionally now, and Kitts and Watkins are out for the 12 months with accidents.
Staley introduced in Mississippi State switch Madina Okot and introduced again SEC All-Freshman choice Joyce Edwards. There will likely be instances this season the place South Carolina should depend on them to regulate the boards, shield the rim and pound the ball inside towards sure matchups, however the majority of talent, expertise and reliability on this roster appears to reside within the backcourt with Johnson, Johnson and Latson — a trio of names that feels like a legislation agency, however they argue their instances on the court docket fairly than inside a courtroom, flinging 3-pointers and nifty passes as a substitute of submitting lawsuits.
Leaning on her guard play is an adjustment that Staley is aware of she and this group should make. At one level within the recreation, with foul bother hounding South Carolina’s posts, she needed to change to a four-guard lineup. That’s not one thing they’ve practiced, Staley says, however she acknowledges that it probably gained’t be the final time people see the Gamecocks flip to it.
“We have now to do it once more, as a result of groups will play small ball on us,” Staley stated. “We simply bought to get used to it.”
Okot completed with 12 factors and 4 rebounds in 17 minutes in her South Carolina debut. Final season at Mississippi State, she averaged a double-double in SEC play. Edwards had 13 factors and 5 rebounds in 27 minutes.
Whereas Staley is aware of she has an extremely gifted trio of guards and is comfy relying on them, she additionally believes that she wants extra from her posts.
“We want Madina to be dominant. Little doubt about it. I don’t suppose we go very far if we don’t have her contribute slightly greater than what she’s doing,” Staley stated. “However once more, it’s new, so, you already know, it’s going to take a while for her to get there, and we’re going to push her in direction of that. I’m hoping she didn’t like her play (tonight).”
Staley added: “You’ll be able to go fairly far with good guard play, however in some unspecified time in the future, you want the bigs to come back alive.”
However till that occurs, enjoying via the guards proved to be a potent plan of assault for South Carolina. The Gamecocks knocked down 9 3-pointers towards the Lopes and dished out 19 assists. Final season, they solely hit these marks collectively in 5 video games.
Whereas working in 4 new starters and getting Okot up-to-speed, Staley does discover some solace in realizing that she has the already-built-in cohesion of Latson and Raven Johnson — and the raised play of Tessa Johnson — to rely upon.
“That’s one thing that we will financial institution,” Staley stated. “We simply have to begin connecting. It’s simply going to take slightly little bit of time for us to create the chemistry that we should be higher, particularly defensively… It’s not our regular manner of doing issues, but it surely’s the playing cards that we’ve been dealt.”
After complimenting Raven whereas responding to a query from a reporter within the postgame press convention, Latson and Johnson checked out one another and smiled. The 2 former Westlake teammates leaned into one another and Johnson threw her arm round Latson. Their bond is an actual one, and it is perhaps what powers South Carolina again to the highest of girls’s school basketball this season.