Se Emergence of Tessa Johnson: South Carolina Star Reflects on Winning the Title
How do you process winning it all? It’s a feeling most of us will never understand, nor experience: only the select few ever
win championships, and when you’re playing for a program that’s synonymous with winning, the standard is even
higher. For Gamecock standout Tessa Johnson, the then-freshman had heard all about how difficult it was to solidify a
‘chip from former players and even the coaching staff, nevertheless to do so after the team won the year prior. But after
posting an undefeated season, holding their own in the 2024 NCAA tournament, they defeated Iowa to win their third title
under the helm of legendary head coach Dawn Staley.
The epic showdown drew 18.9 million views, making it the most watched
basketball game since 2019. The world saw not only how undeniably dominate
the Gamecocks are, and have always been, but got a glimpse at just what to expect from the future of the game: with
a talented roster that included a future first-round WNBA draft pick in Kamilla Cardoso, they were also equipped with a
core group of freshman and sophomores, including Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley, Raven Johnson and Chloe Kitts, they
could’ve easily faltered under the pressure. As Staley told us for the cover of SLAM 250, rather than having “balked” for minutes or playing time,
they carried themselves with grace, were guided by veteran leadership and showed up every game with a can’t-lose mentality that, eventually, became a reality.
“It got harder every level in the competition,” Johnson told us in May, just a month after the title game. “We played
Texas A&M twice, probably, and in the regular season, compared to in the SEC tournament, that was a whole different
team. So just, the competition, and the fact that everyone was either winning or done—I think the level of competition
grew a lot it was way more physical. You had to be on your A game. The preparation is key and I think our
coaches did a good job of mentally preparing us as well as physically preparing us. And also, the leaders on
my team, the older people, they told us what to kind of expect. MiLaysia [and I],
they told us just to play our game, forget the big stage or whatever.”
