Dawn Staley Hoping for Her Teams Great Play to be 'Contagious' Moving Forward

Joseph Griffin | Mar 25, 2024

Mar 24, 2024; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley directs her team / Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

After South Carolina Dominating win over the North Carolina Tar Heels in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Head Coach Dawn Staley, and freshman guards, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson met with the media for their post-game press conference. Coach Staley kicked off the conference by expressing her excitement for playing in colonial life arena and the energy they provided for the team.

Once it got opened up for questions, Johnson and Fulwiley were both asked to elaborate on how they are able to overcome the big moments, which freshman may at times struggle with and how they maneuver what people think of their play. Johnson answered first by saying:

"I think again, I keep saying it, our teammates keep encouraging us no matter what, just play us."

Fulwiley would add on by saying:

"I think this team, we do a great job of playing for each other, we don't just play for the fans or all the extra stuff, I think everything we do out there on the court is for each other."

Mar 24, 2024; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard MiLaysia Fulwiley (12) makes a three / Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

Once Coach Staley was open for questions, she was asked if that was one of the better first halfs they had played all season:

"I don't know, we haven't played like that in a super long time. We actually were talking about that in the coach's locker room, we haven't played well all together, every single one of our players made an impact coming into the game and we needed a performance like this and hopefully playing this good of basketball can be contagious. throughout the rest of the way."

Before ending the presser, Coach Staley then had a chance to speak on Kamilla Cardoso and how she handled the one game away, stating:

"Kamilla had a hard time with it to be quite honest. She fell like she let her team down and almost embarrassed by not being able to play. No matter how much we tried to shake her out of it only basketball, only getting back out there, running up and down and hearing the ovation from the crowed, even got her a little emotional at the beginning of the game. "

You Might Also Like:

• MiLaysia Fulwiley Stays Red Hot for the Gamecocks
  
• Final: South Carolina WBB Dominates in Round Two Knock out 88-41 Over North Carolina
  
• NCAA WBB Preview: Battle of The Carolinas Round Two (si.com)
  

Join the community:

• Follow Andrew Lyon on Twitter: @ALyon_SC
• Follow Joseph Griffin on Twitter: @JosephGriffinJG
• Follow Locked On Gamecocks on Youtube or wherever you get your podcasts

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter at @GamecocksDigest and  on Facebook!