South Carolina women's
basketball guard Raven Johnson made the most pivotal shot of her team's 79-75 win over Indiana in the Sweet 16, knocking down a 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining to help the hold off a late Hoosiers comeback attempt. Johnson went 3-of-3 beyond the arc - a perfect response to what happened to her in last year's Final Four against Iowa. Back then, she was a liability from long range, and left her wide open and pointed to the floor to dare her to shoot in a sequence that went viral on
Social Media. While Clark advanced to the national title game, Johnson stewed over her Final Four performance and vowed to develop a more consistent jump shot. . "Going off from last season, the Final Four game, after we lost - the whole season I feel like everybody was riding our coattails, just hyping us up," Johnson said earlier this season. "As soon as we lost, we got all these hate comments. I got bashed from a viral video that went so viral. People don't know behind the scenes how I felt and what I went through. I think that put fuel to the
fire. "I said this was a revenge season and I got something for everybody, every team that comes up. So I think that was the best thing that ever happened to me, and God does things for a reason. So maybe I needed that. But I'll say this team, we're coming for a lot. So it's definitely revenge season." Johnson scored 14 points with six assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in the win over Indiana. Head coach rewarded the performance by giving the Atlanta native a team-high 33 minutes. "From last year, people sagged off me, and I mean you can't sag off me now," Johnson told
ESPN on Friday night. "I worked hard over the summer, just working on my shot. ... It just comes with confidence." Staley said: "I saw Raven's eyes coming down the stretch as our lead was diminishing and I knew she wasn't going to let us lose. She was going to do something." The coach added that she's noticed Johnson spend more time than required to go through
shooting reps, leading her to trust the 21-year-old in important situations. With Johnson's help, South Carolina improved its record to 35-0 and advanced to the Elite Eight. There, the team will match up with Oregon State after the Beavers won a close Sweet 16 battle against Notre Dame. "We are excited to be moving on to the Elite Eight," Staley said. "Just want to say that Indiana is a really tough basketball team that wanted to move on, and they gave an incredible effort in the third and fourth quarter to get themselves back in the game and put us back on our heels."