Johnson was given an intentional foul, and Cardoso was ejected. Every player who left the bench was removed from the game. Only six South Carolina players and five LSU players remained on the court for the remaining two minutes. The Gamecocks won 79-72.

“I just want to apologize to the basketball community,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley told ESPN in an on-court postgame interview. “You know when you’re playing a championship game like this in our league things get heated. No bad intentions.”

“Their emotions got so far ahead of them that sometimes these things happen,” she added. “So I want to apologize for us playing a part in that, because that’s not who we are and that’s not what we’re about. But I’m happy for the players that were able to finish the game and get us another championship.”

Ashlyn Watkins

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week