Dick Weiss on College Basketball
PHILADELPHIA– South Carolina woman’s basketball is still unbeaten today. The AP top-ranked Gamecocks improved to 32-0 with a 79-72 victory over LSU in the SEC championship game.
But the celebration was muted after a near brawl that resulted in multiple players being dejected and a fan arrested for coming onto the court, ignited the flames of a suddenly bitter rivalry between the two rivals and was punctuated by a post-game outburst by LSU’s fiery coach Kim Mulkey, who used her time.at the podium to trash the officials and accuse South Carolina’s 6-8 center Kamila Cardoso of pushing a smaller player to the floor.
“I’d like to apologize to the basketball community,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said in a post-game ESPN interview, trying to lower the temperature. “When you are playing in championship games like this in our league, things get heated. No bad intentions. Their emotions got so far ahead of them. Sometimes these things happen. I want to apologize for us playing a part in that. That’s not who we are and that’s not what we are about.”.
With just over 2 minutes remaining, South Carolina Milaysia Fulwiley stole the ball from Flau’jae Johnson and Johnson responded by grabbing her out of frustration. to
stop a fast break. Multiple players arrived on the scene, including Ashlyn Watkins, whom Johnson elbowed away after Watkins was taunting her. Cardoso then escalated the problem by running into Johnson and pushing her to the floor. Both benches cleared, igniting a scrape that nearly spilled over into the scorer’s table.
A fan also jumped over the scorer’s table during the chaos and was later identified as Johnson’s brother. He was later escorted from the arena in handcuffs by police.
After a 11-minute review, the three referees called an intentional foul on Johnson and ejected Cardoso for fighting. Furthermore, both benches were ejected from the game except for South Carolina’s Sania Feagin, who did not leave the bench, and Te-Hina Paopao, who was at the scorer’s table waiting to check in.
As a result, LSU finished the game with five players– Johnson, Angel Reese, Hailey Van Lith, Aneesah Morrow and Mikaylah Williams while South Carolina finished with six players– Fulwiley, Watkins, Feagin, Paopao, Bree Hall and Raven Johnson.
Cardoso will be suspended for South Carolina’s first round game in the NCAA Tournament, but all other players ejected for leaving the bench will not face a suspension.
None of the South Carolina players were allowed on the floor for the post-game celebration.
The controversy could have died there, but it spilled over into the press interviews where Mulkey gave it oxygen when she blamed the officials for the scrape, claiming the crew didn’t call enough fouls, especially in the fourth quarter, when only two plays drew a whistle before the teams exchanged blows.
“”Are you kidding me?” Mulkey said. “That might have created some of that. Not the way we play. We gonna foul your ass. Not the way they play. They’re gonna foul your ass. But you only blew one whistle one time? Think about that now.”
At the time, South Carolina led 77-66. The Gamecocks eventually pulled away.
Mulkey said none of her players will face discipline for the fight. “It’s ugly. It’s not good,” she said. “No one wants to be a part of that. No one wants to see that ugliness. But I can tell you this: I wish Cardoso would have pushed Angel Reese. Don’t push a kid– you’re 6-8. Don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled for, in my opinion. Let those two girls that were jawing, let them go at it.”
Cardoso, for her part, apologized for her actions. “I take full responsibility for my actions,” she said, “and assure you I am committed to conducting myself with the utmost respect and sportsmanship in the future.” Staley said that Johnson apologized to her after her for her part in the fight. “She’s a really good person,” Staley said. “Things just escalated.
South Carolina has beaten LSU twice. But there is always a chance we get a chance to see another chapter in this heavyweight battle in March madness.
“I’ve never been a part of a game like that,” Reese said. “But of course, you know two heavy hitters, we gonna battle. We not scared of them, they not scared of us. /We came in,knew what we had. They came in, knew what they had.”
