Raven Johnson's clutch 3 lifts South Carolina past Indiana in NCAA tournament - ESPN

ALBANY, N.Y. — It appeared Friday as if South Carolina's women's basketball team might suffer a shocking end to an undefeated season in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

But Dawn Staley said she looked at point guard Raven Johnson and saw something else.

«I knew she wasn't gonna let us lose,» Staley said of Johnson, whose critical 3-pointer with under a minute left helped the No. 1 overall seed Gamecocks survive a huge rally by No. 4 seed Indiana.

The Gamecocks won 79-75 in the Albany 1 Region semifinals after nearly letting a 22-point second-half lead slip away. It would have been the biggest comeback in NCAA women's tournament history and a crusher for a program that has lost just three games in the past three seasons.

The Hoosiers cut the lead to 74-72 on Mackenzie Holmes' layup with 1 minute, 8 seconds left. Last season, the heavily favored Gamecocks lost in the national semifinals to Iowa, and Friday another Big Ten team had them in trouble.

But Johnson said she didn't feel nervous in the closing minutes Friday. She nailed a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left, which gave the Gamecocks just enough breathing room to survive to face Oregon State in Sunday's regional final.

«We let them come back, and we definitely need to learn from this,» said Johnson, who had 14 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. «We're not always going to come out with a W if we keep doing this. It's going to get harder the further we go. I'm just glad we're learning lessons from winning.»

On March 9, the Gamecocks trailed Tennessee in the SEC tournament semifinals by two points with just over a second remaining. Johnson said she was on the verge of tears in that game when she looked over at Staley, who said, «We're good.»

It turned out