South Carolina and LSU had to finish the SEC title game without a bench after a wild scuffle led to multiple ejections
The top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks went into their SEC tournament final with the LSU Tigers looking to go into the women’s NCAA tournament with an undefeated record. They ended up simply hoping to finish the game with enough players.
With just over two minutes to go in the South Carolina’s eventual 79-72 win, an intentional foul on LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson led to a scuffle at midcourt that saw players leaving the bench area and even family members jumping out of the stands and onto the court.
This was the scene in Greenville:
LSU and South Carolina players got into a scuffle in the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship. pic.twitter.com/rXw1tb1jWM
— ESPN (@espn) March 10, 2024
As the scuffle escalated, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso pushed Johnson, leading to Cardoso’s ejection from the game (and suspension for the first round of the NCAA tournament).
I’ve never seen anything like this.
• Intentional foul on Flau’Jae Johnson
• Fighting on Kamilla Cardoso
• Both benches have been ejected, along with Cardoso
• 5-on-5 for the remaining 2:08 with whoever was already on the court— Talia Goodman (@goodmansport) March 10, 2024
After that shove, Johnson’s brother jumped onto the court and was quickly escorted away by a police officer.
flaujae Johnson brother they jumped onto the court lmaoo ready to fight South Carolina pic.twitter.com/JbMVxnrVkJ
— John (@iam_johnw) March 10, 2024
In all, the entire LSU bench was ejected for leaving the bench area during a fight but not participating. South Carolina also had all but one bench player ejected. Initially, the broadcast reported that every player who was ejected would be suspended for the NCAA tournament, but it would later issue a correction to clarify that just Cardoso would face a suspension.
Official review of 18 minutes, here's how all the dust settles:
– Intentional foul on Flau'jae
– Cardoso ejected
– All players on both benches have been ejected (except Feagin, who replaces Cardoso, and Paopao, apparently)
– Both teams will shoot two free throws— Alan Cole (@Alan__Cole) March 10, 2024
Still, the altercation made for an usual ending to such a high-quality matchup.