South Carolina kept its perfect season intact with a 79-72 win over LSU in the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. The Gamecocks improved to 32-0 winning the SEC title, but the game is being overshadowed by a fight that broke out in the final minutes.

Tensions boiled over with roughly 2 minutes to go after an intentional foul call.

There was confusion, as the ESPN broadcast initially reported that every player ejected would be suspended for their team’s first-round NCAA Tournament game. After the 6 ejections, both teams were shorthanded.

ESPN issued a correction on the broadcast, clarifying that only the players who were fighting would miss an NCAA Tournament game. The man who jumped over the scorer’s table was identified by ESPN as the brother of LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, who was shoved to the floor by South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso.

The rulebook indicates Cardoso will be out for South Carolina’s next game. Cardoso is the team’s top scorer and rebounder, averaging 14.2 points and 9.6 boards per game over 25.2 minutes. She’s also the team’s top shot blocker at 2.6 per contest.

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Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley apologized for the skirmish in her post-game interview on ESPN.

“I want to apologize to the basketball community,” Staley said in her postgame interview with ESPN. “When you’re playing in championship games like this in our league, things get heated. No bad intentions. Their emotions got so far ahead of them that sometimes things happen.

“I want to apologize for us playing a part in that. That’s not who we are. That’s not what we’re about.”

LSU coach Kim Mulkey took issue with the officiating. She also called out the 6-7 Cardoso targeting Johnson, who is 5-10. Mulkey suggested Angel Reese, listed at 6-3, would have made for a more appropriate target.

“No one wants to be a part of that,” Mulkey said postgame. “No one wants to see that ugliness.

“But I can tell you this, I wish she would have pushed Angel Reese. Don’t push a kid. You’re 6-8, don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled-for, in my opinion. Let those two girls that were jawing, let them go at it.”

With the way South Carolina and LSU have been playing, they may meet again soon to decide another championship.

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