With 1.1 seconds remaining and a one-point deficit towards Tennessee, South Carolina girls’s basketball’s two-year profitable streak in non-NCAA event video games regarded destined to crumble as an errant inbounds cross dragged star middle Kamilla Cardoso past the three-point line.
The Brazilian native had by no means made a triple in her Gamecock profession and hadn’t tried one since 2020, however with no different choices, Cardoso’s heave clattered off the backboard and thru the online. A crazed mob of white and garnet mobbed the unlikely hero, as South Carolina gained 74-73, improved to 31-0 and improbably will play within the SEC event championship sport Sunday.
KAMILLA. FREAKING. CARDOSO!!! pic.twitter.com/KxV40Osnhe
— South Carolina Girls’s Basketball (@GamecockWBB) March 9, 2024
An look from Kardiac Kamilla hardly appeared needed after a lopsided first half, as South Carolina’s top-ranked protection held Tennessee scoreless for the primary seven minutes and surged to a 13-0 lead. South Carolina’s patently balanced scoring assault flexed its depth, with eight completely different Gamecocks scoring within the first half, and most anticipated SEC quarterfinal matchup teetered on a laugher as USC surged to a 35-12 benefit early within the second quarter.
It was in the end Tennessee’s protection that lastly unlocked a stingy South Carolina squad, as six factors off turnovers fueled an 11-1 Volunteer run that pulled the underdogs inside 13 getting into the locker room.
After a comparatively quiet first half, Rickea Jackson and Jewel Spear carried Tennessee’s valiant comeback effort, combining for 32 factors within the second half and scoring Tennessee’s first eight out of the locker room to drag the Vols inside single-digits. Culminating in her heroic buzzer beater, Cardoso spent a lot of the second half spurning Tennessee’s miracle, and after the Vols narrowed the deficit to 2 possessions early within the fourth quarter, Cardoso fired again with one other conversion on the rim — the USC middle joined MiLaysia Fulwiley with a team-high 13 factors.
STILL UNBEATEN: South Carolina is the final remaining undefeated group in DI school basketball
One other resilient 6-0 spurt from Tennessee ended with a Tamari Key layup, bringing Tennessee degree after the ultimate media timeout for the primary time because the sport’s opening seconds. A stretch of spectacular execution adopted as the 2 groups mixed to attain on their subsequent six possessions, getting into the ultimate minute deadlocked at 71. Rickea Jackson cleaned up her mess on the offensive glass with 24 seconds remaining to present the Vols their first lead of the sport, and Jasmine Powell had an opportunity to ice Tennessee’s miraculous fightback on the line with 3.1 seconds remaining.
The fifth-year senior stunningly missed each probabilities on the stripe, nonetheless, and after Tennessee surrendered a foul to present, South Carolina discovered Cardoso on a sideline inbounds from middle court docket. The Gamecocks proceed on in Greenville, South Carolina, awaiting the winner of LSU and Ole Miss Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN for the SEC event championship