South Carolina’s women’s title fueled by 2 former metro Atlanta stars

Hilda Hankerson, Johnson’s high school coach at Westlake, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an exclusive interview Monday that her former player has the “mindset of a champion.”

“She’s a, how they say, a generational athlete,” Hankerson said. “She’s one of a kind.”

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Johnson was not the only player on the Gamecocks’ roster from metro Atlanta. Sania Feagin, a former standout at Forest Park High School, also played a vital role in South Carolina’s perfect season (38-0) and second championship in three years.

Johnson played 37 minutes in Sunday’s game against Iowa, finishing with three points and three assists. But it was her defense against All-American Caitlin Clark that stole the show and made national headlines.

She hounded the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer starting in the second quarter, after the Iowa senior had scored 18 points in the opening period. From there, Clark made just 5-of-20 shots and had only 12 more points. Johnson also notched four steals.

A year earlier, Clark had poured in 41 points in a 77-73 upset of South Carolina in the Final Four.

“I was ready for the moment. And I take defense very hard, like I take it to heart,” Johnson told reporters after Sunday’s victory. “I studied her moves, and I was ready. I had confidence this year. I was telling myself, last year’s not going to happen again.”

That tenacity and drive didn’t surprise Hankerson. When Johnson was a high school freshman, she told her coach during summer workouts — before the season even started — that she was going to help guide the team to a title.

“She came to me one day after practice, she’s walking past my office door, and she looks at me, she walks past me, and she says, ‘I’m gonna help these seniors win a state championship,’” Hankerson said.

Johnson was named the AJC’s all-classification girls player of the year in 2020 and 2021.

“For a freshman to walk up to me and say something that powerful, I looked at her like, ‘Really?’” Hankerson added.

Johnson finished her high school career with a record of 110-4, never losing a game against a team from Georgia.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Johnson, a sophomore, started 35 games this season for the Gamecocks, averaging 8.1 points per game.

Hankerson said she was proud of Johnson’s tenacious defense Sunday, pointing out that offense isn’t the only way to win championships.

“Shooting is, you know, that’s the way you win the game, by the points you put on the board,” she said, “but what’s always not noticed is what you do that’s not in the stat sheet.

“But locking somebody down, only when we talk about it, does the world know about it.”

Feagin, a junior forward, played 18 minutes against Iowa and finished with six points and four rebounds. It was just below her season average of 6.7 points per game.

When asked how South Carolina was able to hold on to the lead down the stretch, she told the SEC Network that the team just had to keep pushing.

“We just told each other, keep our foot on the gas,” Feagin said. “I mean, give it your all, it’s the last game.”

A four-year starter at Forest Park, Feagin was selected for the USA Under-19 World Cup Team in 2021. She was also named a McDonald’s All-American in 2021, along with Johnson.

Jessie Goree, chairwoman of the Clayton County Board of Education, praised Feagin during Monday’s school board meeting, saying “that Clayton County element was in the game.”

”I got to give a shout-out to Ms. Sania Feagin, who kept us in the game,” Goree said. “We are very proud of her and want to acknowledge her.”