South Carolina Hits Bizarre Buzzer-Beater In True Dagger-In-The-Heart Fashion To Keep Undefeated Season Alive

Where on earth was the defense though?!

With the pressure near an all-time high in the SEC women’s basketball tournament semifinal, head coach Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks were facing a situation where they were down by two against the Tennessee Volunteers with only 1.1 seconds left on the clock. And they only had one more chance to keep their undefeated season alive.

Under normal circumstances, that would be pretty horrendous to face, but um … it’s March, ladies and gentlemen.

With the game in timeout, Staley drew up a play for her senior forward Kamilla Cardoso, and there were a couple of interesting things about this play that just makes this whole scene bizarre. 1. This happened to be Cardoso’s first three-pointer ever that she’s hit in her career, and 2. There was absolutely no defense from the Vols on Cardoso. ZERO.

But holy hell, what a sight it created in a crazy 74-73 win that kept USC’s undefeated season alive.

WATCH:

KAMILLA. FREAKING. CARDOSO!!! pic.twitter.com/KxV40Osnhe

— South Carolina Women’s Basketball (@GamecockWBB) March 9, 2024

Holy hell, I can’t get over the lack of defense.

Look, man. I don’t care what the excuse is — from behind the arc isn’t her game, it’s the first trey she’s hit in college basketball ever, it’s her first three-point attempt since she was at Syracuse, whatever — don’t care. There is absolutely NO reason why Cardoso should’ve been wide open like that.

I’m thinking this is why Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper looked so shell-shocked. (RELATED: North Alabama Hits Outright Insane Atlantic Sun Quarterfinal Buzzer-Beater To Signal That It’s Indeed March)

Just completely unacceptable … no way Harper told her players to do that. But if she did?

That makes this whole situation even worse.