South Carolina women's basketball will be without its star forward Kamilla Cardoso in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The Brazilian 6-foot-7 forward was ejected from Sunday's SEC tournament championship game against No. 5 LSU for her involvement in the heated half-court scuffle during the fourth quarter.

ESPN reported that Cardoso, who was disqualified for the remainder of Sunday's game for fighting, is suspended for the Gamecocks' first NCAA Tournament game in two weeks for her fighting penalty.

REQUIRED READING: Kamilla Cardoso, both benches ejected after fight breaks out between South Carolina and LSU in SEC Tournament championship

The incident began at half court when Gamecocks freshman guard MiLaysia Fulwiley stole the ball from LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson. Cardoso then pushed Johnson down to the ground after Johnson shoved South Carolina's Ashlyn Watkins.

Cardoso was one of several South Carolina and LSU players ejected from the game for their part in the incident. She had eight points and six rebounds before getting ejected.

Dawn Staley, Kamilla Cardosa apologize

Cardoso went to X (formerly known as Twitter) following the game offering her apologies for her actions. This was the first time Cardoso talked about the incident, as the SEC did not make locker rooms available postgame for the media to speak with players.

"I would like to extend my sincerest apologies for my actions during today’s game. My behavior was not representative of who I am as a person or the South Carolina program, and I deeply regret any discomfort or inconvenience it may have caused," Cardoso wrote. "I take full responsibility for my actions and assure you that I am committed to conducting myself with the utmost respect and sportsmanship in the future."

Following the game, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley spoke about the incident with ESPN's Brooke Weisbrod and said she feels bad for those on her team who weren't able to celebrate South Carolina's third straight SEC tournament title.

"I want to apologize to the basketball community," Staley said. "When you play in a championship game like this in our league, things get heated (there's) no bad intentions. Their emotions got so far ahead of them that sometimes these things happen.

"I want to apologize for us playing a part of that because that is not who we are and that is not what we are about. I'm happy for the players that were able to finish the game and get us another championship."

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina's Kamilla Cardoso out for first NCAA Tournament game