South Carolina's Johnson seeking fifth straight trip to Final Four as she starts NCAA Tournament

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Raven Johnson believes South Carolina has everything it needs to advance to the Final Four. And few know better than her what it takes to move that far in the NCAA Tournament.

Johnson has reached the Final Four each of her first four seasons and looks to make it five in a row when her top-seeded Gamecocks (31-1) open tournament play against No. 16 Southern (20-13) on Saturday.

Clemson (21-11), seeded eighth in Region 4, follows against No. 9 seed Southern California (17-13). The winners play on Monday for a spot in the Sweet 16 at Sacramento, California.

“In March, it gets hard,” Johnson said. “I say we want to focus on it one game at a time, just being in the moment where our feet are.”

That's served South Carolina well the last five seasons, all of which ended in the Final Four. Johnson was a highly regarded recruit — No. 2 in the country — when she joined the Gamecocks for the 2021-22 season. An early season injury cost her that year, which ended with South Carolina's second national title.

A healthy Johnson and her team fell to Caitlin Clark's Iowa in the national semifinals in 2023 before the Gamecocks became the most recent undefeated team to win a national title the next season. A year ago, Johnson and South Carolina came up short to UConn in the championship game.

Johnson wants a last chance at a title and likes the makeup of her team, where only five of its 11 players have Final Four experience. The Gamecocks lost starter Chloe Kitts to injury this past fall and stellar backup Milaysia Fulwiley to the transfer portal after she left for LSU.

It hasn't always been an easy transition, but Johnson thinks the newcomers, like her high school teammate Ta'Niya Latson and Mississippi State transfer Madina Okot, are anxious to experience what South Carolina has accomplished so often.

“It does get hard, especially when you're experiencing something for the first time,” Johnson said. “You have to fight through those things and I think each player on this team has fought through the adversity.”

Southern, the Southeastern Athletic Conference tournament champion, defeated Samford in a First Four matchup this week. It's Southern's second straight year with an NCAA win after defeating UC San Diego in a First Four contest before falling to top seed UCLA.

Southern coach Carlos Funchess says his team will prepare like always and give the Gamecocks their best. He remembers as a player for NE Louisiana (Now Louisiana-Monroe) when took on Duke's national title team with stars Chrisian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley.

“At that time, I thought we had an advantage from a speed standpoint,” said Funchess, who's 15th-seeded team lost to the 1991 national champs 102-73.

“Same in this game,” he continued about the Gamecocks. “I think that although South Carolina is really, really athletic, that we have some extremely good athletes and that we can exploit somethings that they don't do as well defensively.”

Clemson coach Shawn Poppie has the program in the NCAAs for the first time since 2019. He credits a lot of it to a targeted, yet hands off, approach to bonding a group with nine newcomers.

Each week, one player was assigned to take the rest of the team — no coaches — to do something they enjoyed. There were things like watching a sunset over Lake Hartwell beside campus and writing down things they wanted to shred from their past.

“It was more than just we're going to go sit at somebody's house,” Poppie said. “They really took it to heart and accepted the fact that they wanted to get to know each other.”

South Carolina's newest player, 6-foot-7 Alicia Tournebize, gave a hint at what's coming as she gains experience. The French freshman threw down a one-handed jam during workouts on Thursday. The Gamecocks have had three dunks in a game in their history, all by 6-3 Ashlyn Watkins, who took this year off from school as she rehabbed a knee injury.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Southern University guard Jestiny Dixon (14) drives against Samford guard Kaylee Yarbrough during the second half of a First Four college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

South Carolina forward Alicia Tournebize, left, looks to pass the ball against Missouri forward Reka Toman, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Olivia Miles had assists on TCU’s first four baskets while putting the Horned Frogs ahead to stay, and a double-double by halftime even while scoring only four points.

The playmaking point guard was well in range of another triple-double in the women's NCAA Tournament.

“I would be happy with zero points and 20 assists, but once I heard that I had 10 rebounds early on, I was like OK, so I have to go get it now,” Miles said.

And Miles did, becoming only the third player with multiple triple-doubles in women’s NCAA Tournament games by scoring 12 points along with a career-high 16 rebounds and a single-game school record 14 assists in the Horned Frogs’ 86-40 win over UC San Diego in a first-round game on Friday.

It was Miles’ 12th career triple-double, and her sixth in what will be the 5-foot-10 graduate transfer's only season with the Horned Frogs to extend the Big 12 single season and career mark. She had four in a five-game stretch earlier this season.

“This is probably the best. I mean, it's March,” coach Mark Campbell said when asked to put Miles' game in perspective. "To break our all-time single game assist record while having a triple-double during March Madness, holy cow. ... Again, it’s a magnitude of the game, the stage and just everything. Olivia, her ability, you saw within the first four minutes of the game the pep, the pop she played with. I mean she was in attack mode. When Olivia’s like that, our team feeds off it and we’re at a whole different level.”

Sabrina Ionescu with Oregon in 2018 and 2019, and Nicole Powell for Stanford in back-to-back games in 2002 are the other players with multiple triple-doubles in the women's NCAA Tournament. Miles’ first one came with Notre Dame in 2022, when she had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in a first-round game against Massachusetts.

The last women's NCAA Tournament triple-double was Caitlin Cark for Iowa in a reginal final win over Louisville on March 26, 2023, when she had 41 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. That was the only one since the previous one by Miles.

Ionescu with 26 and Clark with 17 are the only players with more career triple-doubles than Miles.

After making a 3-pointer with 4:50 left to push her over 10 points, Miles immediately came out of the game. The 14 assists matched her career high, done three times while with Notre Dame.

“I think sometimes the game is a little bit effortless for her and I think that sometimes it’s not appreciated of not just the combination of size and skill and instincts that she possesses,” said UC San Diego coach Heidi VanDerveer, whose older sister, Hall of Famer and former Stanford coach Tara, was also in attendance. “But all those things combined in one player is pretty special really and I thought that her skill set was really on full display tonight. And you’ve seen it on film.”

Miles had 10 rebounds and 10 assists when TCU led 48-25 at halftime. The assists on TCU’s first four baskets, two of them zipped passes to Marta Suarez for 3-pointers, pushed TCU ahead 11-2 just over 2 minutes into the game.

“I was finding people early and I literally told Mark, if I go out there and I have zero points and 20 assists, I would be just as happy,” Miles said. “That’s just what I love to do and that’s what brings me the most joy playing basketball.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

TCU guard Olivia Miles celebrates in the first half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against UC San Diego, Friday, March 20, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)