Madina Okot’s Redemption Arc Powers South Carolina Past LSU, Extending a Dynasty 14 Years in the Making
For over a decade, South Carolina has owned this matchup. What began as a rivalry has since evolved into a statement — one the Gamecocks have been making, loudly and consistently, since 2012. The 18-game winning streak against LSU didn’t arrive by accident. It was built on a foundation of dominant post players, from Alaina Coates to A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston to Kamilla Cardoso, each generation of Gamecock big men leaving Baton Rouge with another victory etched into history.
Even as LSU constructed their most imposing frontcourts, assembling the likes of Angel Reese and Annesah Morrow — two of the premier rebounders of the last decade — they still couldn’t match South Carolina’s size where it mattered most. The Tigers were always a step behind in the paint, and Saturday night proved no different.
Paint Points, Same as Always
The blueprint has never changed under Dawn Staley. Physical dominance in the post, control the glass, and protect the lane. Before the teams tipped off inside a sold-out Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Staley articulated it plainly.
“Huge. Huge. Like always,” Staley said. “I do think what we’ve been able to do is control the paint for the most part, and that serves true for this particular game when it comes to controlling the boards because those are paint points.”
Two years prior, that philosophy manifested through Cardoso, who drew double teams in Baton Rouge that carved open a clean look for Bree Hall to drain the shot that sealed the Gamecocks’ win. Saturday produced a different hero but the very same formula.
A Star Briefly Dimmed, Then Reignited
Nothing about Madina Okot’s path to this moment was smooth or certain. Three weeks before her date with LSU destiny, Staley pulled her from the starting lineup. The coaching staff framed it carefully — not a demotion, they said — but Staley later dropped the diplomatic pretense and acknowledged the uncomfortable truth.
“Really, she didn’t have a choice,” Staley said. “She had to get back in the starting lineup.”
Injuries across the roster ultimately stripped Staley of options, forcing Okot back into the first unit whether the timing was ideal or not. Her return was functional rather than spectacular — 10 points and 10 rebounds against Mississippi State, a modest double-double that broke a nearly month-long drought of such performances. Not flashy, but according to Staley, Okot was “ramping up.”
The next gear engaged against Tennessee. In a game that typically disadvantages post players, Okot commandeered the backboards, snatching 16 rebounds to complement 10 points and two blocked shots. That single performance matched the entire rebound output from her three games coming off the bench.
“I’m back,” Okot said sweetly after the game.
She meant it.
The Weight of the Moment
Against LSU, Okot logged 31 minutes — a season high in SEC play — and delivered her most commanding performance at the most consequential time. She snatched 17 rebounds, a number that nearly equaled the combined total of every other Gamecock on the floor combined (20). Earlier in the season, moments like these exposed her vulnerabilities.
“I feel like I had too much pressure,” she confessed after the Tennessee game.
But when the pressure of Baton Rouge descended — 13,200 fans dressed in black, the energy of College GameDay still pulsing through the arena — Okot absorbed it rather than crumbling beneath it. She played within herself, leaned on her teammates, and fell back on the fundamentals that brought her to Columbia in the first place.
The Moment That Defines a Season
Okot already owned one signature play in her Gamecock career, a three-pointer against Texas that announced her arrival on the biggest stage. Now she has a second, one that may outlast them all.
With fewer than 30 seconds on the clock and LSU clinging desperately to a one-point deficit, Raven Johnson — Okot’s roommate, her self-appointed personal coach, her most relentless accountability partner — threaded a sharp pass toward Okot just outside the lane. For the briefest instant, Okot had daylight. Then the Tigers swarmed. Three LSU defenders converged simultaneously, collapsing around her in one last-gasp attempt to deny the moment.
Okot didn’t rush. She gathered the ball deliberately, faded away from the wall of defenders, and banked it off the glass. Two points. The dagger.
Staley called it the most important play of the night.
“I thought she took her time because there were a lot of times she caught it and made a move,” Staley said. “There was a crowd there. She took her time and put it on that white square, and it went in.”
Johnson immediately sprinted to Okot and wrapped her in an embrace — a celebration of everything they had fought through together across a long and difficult season. Their bond, forged not just as teammates but through the relentless grind of rooming together and pushing each other daily, had produced exactly this.
The Roommate Who Refused to Let Up
Johnson has spent the entire season in Okot’s ear, and she has never once apologized for it. By her own account, the nonstop coaching began well before tip-off.
“We’re roommates. I be getting on her about little things,” Johnson said after the Texas game. “Pregame, we were eating, and I was telling Madina about a play she messed up last game. I was on her butt, and she said ‘Are you going to keep saying that?’ I said, yeah, I’m going to keep saying that. It’s little things like that. I’m trying to hold her accountable. She’s very hard on herself. She wants to be great. She wants to be one of the best post players, another post player to come out of here that’s really good. I try to hold her accountable and be a really good point guard to her.”
The results of that relentlessness showed in Baton Rouge, where Okot finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds, converting all four free throws in the final moments to ensure the Gamecocks walked out with a 79-72 victory — extending one of the most remarkable series dominances in women’s college basketball.
Fourteen years. Eighteen consecutive wins. A dynasty carved through the paint, one post player at a time. And now, Madina Okot’s name belongs among them.
