What Powers South Carolina’s Breakout Basketball Star?

There is a new gold standard in women’s college basketball. Since 2017 no team has won more championships than South Carolina. In the 2024 title game, they were led by freshman, Tessa Johnson.

“It was like, not a miracle because we worked for it, but like it was a miracle at the same time.”

Her miracle season almost didn’t happen. During a game as a high school sophomore, Tessa broke the largest bone in her body, her femur.

Tessa: “I would literally try to move my leg, it would literally be just the upper part of my leg and like this part wouldn’t move because the bone wasn’t attached.”
Will Dawson: “So you knew it was bad.”

Tessa: “Yes.” 
Will: “Did you doubt being able to come back from that? Or were you kind of determined that you would?”

Tessa: “Both. I think my mindset went like up and down a lot through the whole journey.
But sometimes there were just doubts in my head, like, ‘Is this really what I’m supposed to do?’”

Tessa was raised in a Christian home, however this new challenge became a catalyst for her growing faith.

“I had me building my own relationship, like actually building my own relationship with God, and then someone told me, you know, ‘If you break it, you break it. Like it's all in God's hands. Like just go out there and play,’ and then that like, kind of turned it on,” she says.

Tessa returned to the court her junior year and in her final high school season, she won the Minnesota player of the year award as well as a state title.

“I posted obviously on Instagram and stuff about the state championship and my caption was like, ‘It was all God’s journey,’ says Tessa. Like it was just, it was a long journey that I wasn’t expecting, and he got me through it.”

Her success drew interest from the best college programs in the country, including from hall-of-fame and South Carolina coach, Dawn Staley.

“She knew how strong and how much faith meant to me. So, she talks to me about it,” says Tessa.

The injury bug bit Tessa again her freshman season. Coach Staley encouraged her to seek God.

“I just kept spraining this ankle, this ankle, this ankle and she was just always in my ear like, ‘You know your faith,’ like, ‘You’re okay. Like you’re in God’s hands.’”

That same season, despite injuries, Tessa and South Carolina went undefeated and met Iowa and Caitlin Clark in the championship game. Tessa had a game high 19 points as the Gamecocks won the championship.

Will: “In that championship game the whole world was watching. You broke out. Why do you think that moment specifically was the right time for you to do so?”

Tessa: “I couldn’t even tell you. I don’t understand it fully. My sister told me to visualize my favorite game and the word that came into my mind was ‘fearless’, and when I stepped onto the court I was just playing with no fear out there.”

Last season, the Gamecocks returned to the Final Four, but fell one win short of back-to-back championships. This year, the goal is the same, however---win or lose, Tessa understands the call on her life.

Tessa: “I live through him; he lives through me. And I just hope that I can plant seeds in other people, like just use my platform and remember who I’m actually playing for. Yes, I’m playing for South Carolina and I’m playing for just women’s college basketball, but at the end of the day I’m playing for the man above, like God,” she says. 

“I don’t see any other way to live without God in my life. I don’t know how I would be, I can’t even answer that. Everyone I know, they know how important my faith is to me.” 

Will: “What would a successful season look like this season to you?”

Tessa: “Being a role model for my teammates, being a role model for the younger generations and just being the kind of inspiration that I was looking up to when I was their age. That is my goal and obviously a national championship. Another one!”