GREENVILLE, S.C. — Madison Booker scored 18 factors as No. 4 Texas sprinted to a 14-0 lead en path to beating three-time defending champion and third-ranked South Carolina 78-61 on Sunday for the Longhorns’ first Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament title.
Booker, who averaged 20 factors on 61% capturing in three video games, was named MVP of the tournament. Justice Carlton added 15 factors and Jordan Lee had 12 for the Longhorns (31-3), who joined the SEC in 2024.
“We belong in the SEC,” Booker mentioned. “We’re here to play and we’re here to win.”
Texas shot 57% from the sector to avenge final yr’s 19-point loss to the Gamecocks within the championship sport. Booker completed 8 of 15 from the sector, and he or she scored 14 factors within the second half on 6-of-11 capturing.
“When her shot is going in like that, they are very difficult to beat,” South Carolina coach Staley mentioned.
Joyce Edwards had 13 factors for the Gamecocks (31-3), who had their 12-game win streak snapped.
The powerhouse packages, who’re each forecasted by ESPN to get No. 1 seeds when the NCAA tournament discipline is launched on March 15 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), break up two tightly contested conferences earlier this season, with the Longhorns successful 66-64 at a impartial website in November and the Gamecocks incomes a measure of revenge with a 68-65 win on their dwelling flooring in January.
Texas coach Vic Schaefer turned the primary coach to win the women’s SEC tournament title at a number of colleges. He additionally guided Mississippi State to the crown in 2019.
This one, nonetheless, was by no means shut as Texas made its first seven photographs — together with six within the paint — and led 14-0, benefiting from 5 early South Carolina turnovers earlier than Tessa Johnson lastly hit a 3 to get the Gamecocks on the board.
“It was bad,” Edwards mentioned. “All of the starters, we were supposed to set the tone out there and we didn’t do that.”
Carlton outscored South Carolina by herself within the first quarter, ending with 13 factors as Texas constructed a 27-12 lead by capturing 68% from the sector. It was probably the most factors given up by the Gamecocks to an SEC opponent in additional than a decade, in response to ESPN Research.
With a big South Carolina crowd available, the Longhorns did not let up, pushing the result in 17 on the break — the biggest halftime deficit within the SEC tournament for South Carolina underneath Staley.
The Longhorns continued their dominance inside, scoring 40 factors on 20-of-34 capturing within the paint, at the same time as South Carolina contested 76% of these photographs, in response to ESPN Research. It was Texas’ seventeenth sport this season through which it scored at the very least 40 factors within the paint.
“Losing is not an option,” Texas guard Rori Harmon mentioned. “Don’t step on the court if you’re not ready to win.”
South Carolina managed to get inside 11 with 5:22 left, however Lee answered with a 3 and later pushed the result in 16 with a driving layup with two minutes left. Booker then sealed the Longhorns’ eighth straight win with a jumper.
“Every time that we would try to make a run, we had just like mental lapses, like uncharacteristic turnovers,” Staley mentioned. “Some of it was us, some of it was Texas — and they took advantage of it every single time.”
Staley mentioned if there’s a silver lining to the loss, it is that the final time the Gamecocks fell within the SEC title sport, in 2022, they went on to win the nationwide championship.
“It might be the very thing this team needs,” Staley mentioned. “It’s not what I would have thought coming in today, but now that we’re here and it’s a reality, you search for things that have a connection that can give your team what it needs to make this run for a national championship.”
The Gamecocks completed 12-of-23 from the free throw line.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
