On the night that she became the Texas women’s basketball program’s all-time leader in assists, Rori Harmon also hit one of the biggest shots of her collegiate career.

Harmon’s pull-up jumper with 0.7 seconds left lifted No. 4 Texas to a 66-64 win over No. 2 South Carolina in the championship game at the Players Era event in Las Vegas. The Longhorns’ two-point win came one day after they beat No. 3 UCLA by a 76-65 score.

Texas is now 7-0 this season.

This Thursday marked the fifth meeting between Texas and South Carolina during the 2025 calendar year. South Carolina went 3-1 against UT during the 2024-25 basketball season with two of those wins coming in the SEC championship game and the Final Four round of the NCAA tournament. Last year’s four games all took place in different locations as the Longhorns and Gamecocks battled in Austin, Tampa and two South Carolina cities (Columbia and Greenville). 

Texas and South Carolina decided to meet up at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas this time around. This game was for the title of the Players Era Championship, an early-season showcase that awarded $1 million in NIL funds to each of its participating teams.

Behind six assists from Harmon, Texas built a 23-19 lead by the end of Thursday’s first quarter. The Longhorns and Gamecocks then both scored 10 points in the second session as Texas missed 14 of its 16 shots while South Carolina was 5-for-16 from the field. Texas continued to struggle offensively in the third quarter and fell behind by as many as eight points. 

Trailing 50-46 at the start of the fourth quarter, Texas fought back to tie the game on three occasions before taking a slim lead. The Longhorns then surged to a six-point advantage, and Harmon became UT’s all-time assists leader during that stretch when she set up a Jordan Lee jumper off an inbound pass with 4:24 left.

South Carolina rallied and forced a tie with two late free throws. That set Harmon up to dribble down the clock, drive to her left and knock down the game-winning shot.

Texas was led in scoring by Lee and Madison Booker, who respectively had 19 and 16 points. Harmon finished with six points and nine assists, and the fifth-year senior’s 777 career assists now top legendary Longhorn Kamie Ethridge’s 40-year-old total of 776. 

As for Texas, it will return to Moody Center on Sunday for a home game against Penn. South Carolina, which was led by the 16 points scored by both Ta’Niya Latson and Joyce Edwards, is off until a trip to play No. 23 Louisville on Dec. 4.