Greenville
The spot in the South Carolina women’s basketball trophy case for a 10th SEC Tournament championship will remain vacant for at least another year.
Dawn Staley and the top-seeded Gamecocks fell to No. 3 seed Texas 78-61 in the 2026 conference tournament title game Sunday. The win at Bon Secours Wellness Arena gives the Longhorns their first SEC Tournament championship in program history.
It’s the first time South Carolina hasn’t won the SEC Tournament since the 2021-22 season, when the Gamecocks lost to Kentucky in the title game on a buzzer-beater. USC went on to win the national championship that season.
The Longhorns opened with a 14-0 lead Sunday and forced 14 USC turnovers on the day.
“It didn’t feel right, just from a mental and physical standpoint,” Staley said afterward. “You can try to keep pushing through, but every time that we would try to make a run, we had just mental lapses, like uncharacteristic turnovers. Some of it was us, some of it was Texas. They took advantage of it every single time, no matter who caused it.”
Texas’ hot start
The first four minutes of the game Sunday were indicative of how the remainder of the contest was going to be.
Texas stunned everyone in attendance by starting the game on a 14-0 run on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting clip. Most of those points came from Justice Carlton who scored 13 points in the first quarter. During that run, South Carolina’s lone shot attempt was a missed corner 3-pointer from Joyce Edwards. Texas forced five USC turnovers in that span.
South Carolina made just four shots in the first quarter and was outscored 27-12 in the period.
“It was bad. It was bad on all the starters,” Edwards said. “We’re supposed to set the tone out there, and we definitely didn’t do that.”
The Gamecocks showed some life in the second quarter by starting off on a 6-2 run, but any momentum was quickly extinguished. A 10-0 run helped Texas build up to a 19-point lead, the highest of the game to that point.
Texas took a 45-28 lead into halftime. The 17-point halftime deficit was the largest in South Carolina’s program history during an SEC Tournament game under Staley.
Edwards (13 points) was the lone USC starter to score double-digits. The entire starting five combined for 36 points.
“We just didn’t play well,” Staley said. “They were moving pretty fast, and we weren’t moving as quickly as they were. When you think about it, maybe there’s a little fatigue. We’ve had depth when we got to this point, played our starters some heavy minutes. So you got to look at that and maybe think that contributed to it. A little mental fatigue, physical fatigue.
“But when you’re not hitting on all cylinders, like Texas, you’re going to feel it in every category.”
South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards, Madina Okot, Raven Johnson and Tessa Johnson react as the SEC Tournament game against Texas comes to a close at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Sunday, March 8, 2026. Texas defeated South Carolina 78-61. Tracy Glantz tglantz@thestate.com Important spots on the stat sheet
A few spots on the stat sheet stuck out after South Carolina’s loss to Texas.
The Gamecocks struggled on the boards all game long. Part of why Texas was able to gain a big lead in the first quarter was because USC trailed 11-4 on the glass. South Carolina found some success later on in the game, but Texas still out-rebounded the Gamecocks 35-26 in the game.
Madina Okot, who leads South Carolina and the SEC with 11 rebounds per game, struggled in the paint. She recorded five rebounds and didn’t play much in the second half.
Turnovers also played a big role Sunday. South Carolina turned the ball over 14 times in the game compared with Texas’ nine. The Longhorns also edged USC’s point production off turnovers (16-9).
The Gamecocks were 10-of-20 shooting (40%) in the first half and finished 23-of-40 (46.9%). Texas was over the 60% mark in first-half shooting and finished the game at 54%.
“Throughout the whole game, the shots weren’t necessarily falling,” Edwards said. “Things we usually make weren’t necessarily going in. It just happens. We have other goals in mind, national championship. This isn’t the end all be all, so we’re just moving forward.”
South Carolina’s Tessa Johnson (5) collides with Texas’s Breya Cunningham (25) during the first half of action of their women’s basketball game in the SEC Tournament, against Texas at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Sunday, March 8, 2026. Tracy Glantz tglantz@thestate.com NCAA Tournament implications
UConn and UCLA are expected to be the first and second overall No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina and Texas had been projected to be the third and fourth overall No. 1 seeds in recent weeks, respectively.
But ESPN bracketology expert Charlie Creme projected the Gamecocks and Longhorns to swap spots among the one seeds because of Sunday’s SEC finals result. Texas won the SEC Tournament title and leads the season series 2-1 over USC.
ESPN projects the Longhorns could slide to the third No. 1 seed for March Madness and into Fort Worth Region 3. The Gamecocks, as the final No. 1 seed, would be slotted in Sacramento Region 4, per ESPN.
It might not seem like a large difference, but it certainly impacts travel. And it would position South Carolina to possibly play the No. 1 overall seed in the Final Four (which is UConn in ESPN’s latest projections), should the Gamecocks advance that far.
“Our team knows we didn’t play our best basketball, not nearly what we’re capable of doing,” Staley said. “ I told them that the last time we lost in this situation, we won a national championship. … You search for things that have a connection that can give your team what it needs to make this run for a national championship. I do think we have enough in the room to do that.
“We’ll rest and recoup at the end of the week and start that journey.”
NCAA Tournament Selection Show TV detailsWhen: Sunday, March 15Time: 8 p.m.TV: ESPN
This story was originally published March 8, 2026 at 5:02 PM.
Michael Sauls is The State’s South Carolina women’s basketball reporter. He previously worked at The Virginian-Pilot covering Norfolk State and Hampton University sports. A Columbia native, he is an alum of the University of South Carolina.