Dawn Staley Recalls Last Few Possessions In Late-Game Thriller Vs. Tennessee
In a game that looked like it would be a blowout win at one point and then the ultimate collapse for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the No. 1 team in the country found a way to escape with a last-second three-pointer from their center, Kamilla Cardoso. After the game, head coach Dawn Staley was asked what she saw from her perspective in the last minute or so.
"[Tennessee] got the ball in bounds. We did a great job at defending at the rim. They got the rebound, [and] they put it back in. We call the timeout, and quite honestly, I made a a bad move, because I thought we had the ball in front of our bench. So I drew up a play in front of our bench and then we ended up having to take it out, you know underneath the basket. So we were all discombobulated at that point. I just wanted our team to get a shot at the basket and once we did, we had [to foul]," Dawn recalled. "We put MiLaysia [Fulwiley] in the game because she has [had] some late game heroics, or some late shot clock heroics, and some end of quarter heroics for us. So we wanted to put her in the game and see if she can get a good look at a shot. She got fouled," Staley continued. "And then it set up the play where, you know, I really wanted [Te-Hina Paopao] to be in a position to catch and shoot, but I knew they weren't going to [leave her alone]. They did a great job on Pao all night long. So I was skeptical about giving her the ball. And then I just told Raven [Johnson] to just throw it high to Kamilla, [then] Kamilla [to] pass it to Pao, Then I'm like, 'No, they're they're not going to let Pao get any daylight at the end.' [So] I yelled at [Kamilla] and said shoot it, I added some more words to that, but I can't say it right."
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