South Carolina superstar Raven Johnson is back in the garnet and black for a fifth season.
Johnson, who won four straight high school basketball state titles at Westlake High School alongside Gamecock transfer Ta’Niya Latson in Atlanta, is looking to run it back with the team on their way to a third NCAA championship in five years.
Raven Johnson Is Back For Fifth Year At South Carolina
Johnson announced her return on social media.
“LET’S RUN IT BACK TWIN!!!! @NiyaLatson ❤️❤️” Johnson wrote in a Twitter post.
LET’S RUN IT BACK TWIN!!!! @NiyaLatson ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/epZ8BGsURJ
— R A V E N (@HollywoodRaven) April 8, 2025
Johnson, who head coach Dawn Staley scored as the number two player and top point guard in the 2021 class, started all 39 games for South Carolina in 2024-25. The redshirt junior averaged 4.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game on 35% shooting, including a season-high 13 points against Wofford in December.
“Obviously, Raven makes us a better basketball team,” Staley said on March 2. “Raven is a winner. She comes back, it increases our chances of winning a lot more basketball games.”
During the Gamecocks’ NCAA tournament run, Johnson averaged 4.5 points, including eight in a first-round win against No. 16 Tennessee Tech in the first round. In the national championship, she scored two points on 1-7 shooting and added seven rebounds, one assist, and a block.
For Johnson, this season was a step back; her numbers in all points, rebounds, assists, and steals all decreased, but she increased her block numbers, earning her SEC All-Defensive Team honors.
With the return of Johnson and the additions of Latson and five-star recruit Agot Makeer, the Gamecocks’ backcourt, which is also returning sophomores MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson and freshman Maddy McDaniel, it is likely at least one Gamecock guard will be headed out the door.
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With Fulwiley telling reporters she needed to “think things through” after Sunday’s national championship loss, we may see her leave Columbia sooner than expected.
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