Tennessee was moments away from downing top-ranked and undefeated South Carolina in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

With a two-point lead, Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso made the first 3-pointer of her career as the buzzer rang to advance her squad to the championship and send the Lady Vols home.

Here's what was said about the moment.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

We asked you this after South Carolina, the fight you guys showed, that's got to say something about where this team is, what it can build on.

Harper: "Yeah, I've got a tough group in that locker room. Can't say that's how I would have defined them earlier in the year, but they have really taken on that challenge. That was on full display today, man. I'm so proud of 'em. God, I just hate that for them. I wanted that so bad for our team."

Can you take us through the defensive strategy y'all had on the final possession?

Harper: "Didn't call a timeout because they did not have one. I wanted Tamari (Key) to be in the paint so they couldn't get a pass to the paint. We were trying to get Rickea back there in the play. Obviously at the end of a game like that, everyone is a shooter because you could luck one in in that moment. We didn't get where we needed to to get that defended."

What do you take from this going into the rest of the season both on the positive and the negative?

Harper: "Yeah, I think, one, we've been playing good basketball. We've been tough. I think the positive is just the fight that we have. We know what we've got inside us.I think the negative would be just our start offensively. We were a little panicked, it looked like, a little out of sorts. But we settled in after that first quarter. You have such a stagnant first quarter, it puts you in the hole."

What is the plan going forward, a couple days off to decompress?

Harper: "Yes, they will. I planned on being here tomorrow, so I've not looked at the schedule yet. But we'll get 'em some time off this week and get them ready to go."

What was that experience like? With this team, we talked all along about how they don't know what they don't know. They still pulled this out when it looked like all the odds were against them.

Staley: "Let me just say this. Tennessee played some excellent basketball, like excellent. I mean, they coached. They made adjustments. They clawed their wayback in the game. They took the momentum. It's just uncommon favor. Like it's uncommon favor. I do have to mention this. Every game, Mrs. Boston sends out scripture, send us out messages. I'm looking at my phone. She just texted about 6:44. She said, I told you. She is the one person that has prayed over our program while Aliyah (Boston) was here and probably more that she's not here to have the same type or more success than we had when her daughter was here. Now, that is hard to believe. It's really hard to believe when she says things like that. But the more and more she says it, the more and more great things are happening to our program.

I'm just happy that we have a prayer warrior like Mrs.Boston every day. I told her today, When you send me these messages, it gives me a perfect peace amongst everything that we're doing and having to deal with. I just really appreciate that. But I don't know if I answered your question.

I've been around a lot of basketball. None happier than I am for our players. They work hard. Really it flashed in front of me.What are the headlines going to say? Some of y'all have written y'all's stories already, got to change it up a little bit. But I'm just happy for our players because I don't want them to endure that like right now. It could happen in the future. I hope not. But I'm happy that we lived to see another day, and I'm family for our fam, our fans as well. I know they spend their hard-earned money coming here expecting us to be in the championship game on Sunday. We found a way. We found a way to make it happen."

Can you walk us through the last (10) seconds. What was the play that you drew out? Did it go to plan?

The last 10 seconds? We had an opportunity. We had possession of the ball. Somehow we turned the ball over. It was a backcourt violation. I don't even know how that ball slipped through (Tessa Johnson's) hands. I was calling a timeout if she would have caught the ball. I didn't anticipate her missing that ball like that. Bad kickball player. I wouldn't pick her in a kickball game.

They gained possession. I thought we did a good job. I thought it was a five-second count, I really did. But they got the ball inbounds. We did a great job of defending at the rim. They got the rebound, put it back in. We called a timeout. Quite honestly, I made a bad move because I thought we had the ball in front of our bench. I drew up a play in front of our bench. We ended up having to take it out underneath the basket. We were all discombobulated.

At that point I just wanted our team to get a shot at the basket. Once we did, we had the foul. Then they went back down the court. Thankfully they missed two free throws. Gave us an opportunity to set up that play. MiLaysia (Fulwiley), we put her in the game because she had some late-game heroics or some late shot-clock heroics and some end-of-quarter heroics for us. We wanted to put her in the game to see if she could get a good look at a shot.

She got fouled. I really wanted (Te-Hina Pao Pao) to be in the position to catch and shoot. They did a great job on Pao all nightlong. I was skeptical about giving her the ball. I just told Raven to throw it high to Kamilla. Kamilla passed it to Pao. I'm like, no, they're not going to let Pao get any daylight at the end. I yelled at Kamilla, said, shoot it. I added some more words to that, but I can't say it right here."

I know it's a really tough end. Can you talk about the last quarter? What was going through your minds?

Jackson: "We were just doing what we knew we could do, playing hard, staying in the fight. I'm just proud of how we just continued to fight despite the score, despite anything. We just continued to fight. I'm just so proud of this group."

How do you bring this energy into the tournament, knowing you almost cut a 23-point deficit?

Jackson: "Just continuing to do the little things. I felt like we really focused in on our defense. We got the rebounds we needed. We executed down the stretch. Just what we did in those three quarters, how we just continued to fight, it was just great to see."

I know it's a really tough end. Can you talk about the last quarter? What was going through your minds?:

Spear: "Yeah, I thought we settled in pretty well in the second half. We were down by a lot, but we just kept talking about cutting the lead. And (Rickea jackson) did a really good job of finishing down the stretch, as well."

How do you bring this energy into the tournament, knowing you almost cut a 23-point deficit?

Spear: "Yeah, I would say pretty much the same thing. We've been knowing that we've been playing pretty good basketball. I think y'all got to see that today, got to see our toughness, so."

Raven, on the inbound pass, you just saw Kamilla there and wanted to get it in?

Johnson: "Well, Coach drew up the play, and I just followed her guidelines. I trust her. Coach told Kamilla: Shoot the ball. She shot the ball with confidence. And that's (Lisa) Boyer. Boyer works with her every day on the shot. It translated to the game.

Raven, I know you're very close with Kamilla. The first three of her career. What does it mean to see someone have a game like that?

Johnson: "I'm still shocked. I can't believe that she made it. I can't believe she shot the three. Usually she'd be like, I'm not shooting no three. I was just excited for her. It's God's plan, honestly. I just give it to God. Coach Staley, the best coach in the nation."

Raven, did you think you guys had lost this game?

Johnson: "No. Because if Coach is comfortable, I'm at confidence when -- well, honestly, I'm not going to -- I was about to cry out there. I looked at Coach. She's like, we're good. Okay, if she say we're good, we're good. If she thinks we're good, then we should think we're good."

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