![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773013751_464_dims.jpeg\"\/)
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:50 PM PDT<\/p>\nAfter a blowout a year ago, Texas completely flipped the script this time around in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
The Longhorns, after a dominant three quarters, held on late to grab a 78-61 win over South Carolina in the SEC tournament championship game at in Greenville, S.C. It was essentially a home contest for the Gamecocks, whose campus sits about 90 minutes southeast of Greenville. The win for Texas marked its first SEC tournament title since it joined the conference, but its third conference tournament championship in the last five seasons dating back to its Big 12 days.<\/p>\n
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South Carolina has been incredibly dominant over the past decade or so in the SEC. The Gamecocks entered Sunday having won nine of the past 11 conference tournaments, including the past three. They\u2019ve been in the past seven championship games, too.<\/p>\n
The Longhorns didn\u2019t waste any time on Sunday afternoon. They opened the game with 14 straight points and ended up outscoring South Carolina 27-12 in the first quarter. While the second quarter was much more balanced, the Longhorns still took a 17-point lead into the locker room at halftime. Texas shot 61% from the field in the first 20 minutes, led by 13 points from Justice Carlton.<\/p>\n
South Carolina finally came alive a little bit in the third quarter. The Gamecocks ended the period on a short 6-0 burst and cut the game back to just 13 points, and then got it to 11 points early in the fourth quarter. But that was as close as they got.<\/p>\n
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Jordan Lee drilled a 3-pointer just after the midway point of the final period to push the Longhorns\u2019 lead back to 14 points. That seemed to be the push they needed. From there, Texas kept the Gamecocks at bay and held on to grab the 17-point win.<\/p>\n
Madison Booker led the Longhorns with 18 points after she went 8-of-15 from the field. Carlton finished with 15 points, and Lee added 12 points. Texas only shot 4-of-7 from behind the arc, but it went 54% from the field as a whole.<\/p>\n
Joyce Edwards led South Carolina with 13 points and five rebounds, though she was the only Gamecocks starter to hit double figures. Maddy McDaniel had 10 points off the bench, and Raven Johnson added nine points. They went 3-of-12 from behind the arc.<\/p>\n
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Despite Sunday\u2019s outcome, both teams should still secure No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament on selection Sunday. Texas, however, likely has the advantage to land in the Fort Worth region, which would essentially give it home games in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds should it get there. That could make all the difference in the Longhorns\u2019 quest to reach the Final Four for a second straight year.<\/p>\n
Live coverage is over20 updates<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 2:04 PM PDT<\/p>\n
The SEC belongs to the Texas Longhorns in 2026. After South Carolina won the last three consecutive titles, Texas takes the conference tourney en route to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 2:00 PM PDT<\/p>\n
And with a minute to go, the Longhorns are just pouring it on en route to the SEC Championship.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:55 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Preston\u2019s jumper grew Texas\u2019 lead to 14, but she gets called for taunting.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:50 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Jason Owens<\/p>\n
Texans maintains a double-digit lead with a 65-52 lead with 5:22 remaining in the fourth quarter. South Carolina\u2019s running out of time to mount a rally.<\/p>\n
![\"Cassandra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773013751_518_dims.jpeg\"\/)
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:38 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Cassandra Negley<\/p>\n
The 13,567 here is announced as a single-session record for the SEC tournament, and 74,038 over the week is also a record. Impressive given how many years it has spent in Greenville, and with South Carolina as the top seed.<\/p>\n
![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773013751_932_dims.jpeg\"\/)
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:36 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
The deficit isn\u2019t as big as it was at its peak, and the Gamecocks ended the period on a 6-0 burst, but Texas is still in full control with just 10 minutes remaining. South Carolina can\u2019t waste any time here in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Texas is in a bit of foul trouble. Justice Carlton has four, and both Breya Cunningham and Madison Booker have three a piece. We\u2019ll see if the Gamecocks can take advantage.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:22 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Ryan Young<\/p>\n
Yeah, Texas isn\u2019t slowing down. South Carolina is up to 12 turnovers on the day now, and Texas pushed its lead to 19 points briefly just after the midway point of the third. Gamecocks forward Alicia Tournebize hit a 12-footer and drew a foul right before the media timeout there.<\/p>\n
But so far, any South Carolina push hasn\u2019t resulted in anything substantial. Texas is still very much in control.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:12 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Cassandra Negley<\/p>\n
Rori Harmon repeatedly said in the locker room last night the biggest key to today\u2019s game for both sides would be keeping composure. But, she said it will be especially important for the Longhorns given the opponent and the place (basically a home floor for South Carolina).<\/p>\n
Schaefer agreed: \u201cIt’s going to be really important, you know, for us, all of us, to stay in the moment and really have tunnel vision within our own bench, so to speak, and just stay within us, because we’ve got a few Longhorn fans here with us, but we don’t have like they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
So can Texas keep composure and treat this like it\u2019s 0-0? Can Booker keep from getting into real foul trouble? Can they break South Carolina runs? Because they will come.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 1:02 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:58 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Despite the SEC championship essentially being a home game for South Carolina, Texas took immediate control of this game and didn\u2019t let up for the entire first half. Justice Carlton led the way for the Longhorns with 13 points in the first quarter, and they\u2019re shooting 61% from the field and 50% from 3 as a team.<\/p>\n
Texas head coach Vic Schaefer\u2019s message to his team going into the second half: \u201cIt\u2019s zero-zero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:55 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Cassandra Negley<\/p>\n
Dawn Staley was irate on the sideline about the shooting foul called on Alicia Tournebize. She\u2019s was talking to the refs a few plays later, pointing toward both ends of the court to say if it\u2019s called on one end it should be on the other. The crowd is heavily on her side and arguably at its loudest for each replay at the arena. Staley is now incensed about another foul, talking to the ref at length while Preston attempts free throws.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Vic Schaefer has not ripped off his jacket yet.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:50 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Texas is rolling again, this time on a 10-0 run to grow their lead to nearly 20 with just under three minutes until halftime.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:40 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Cassandra Negley<\/p>\n
Madison Booker picked up her second foul less than three minutes into the second quarter and hits the bench. That\u2019s one area the junior needs to tighten up for Texas to reach a Final Four. She\u2019s been in foul trouble in many of their big games.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:33 PM PDT<\/p>\n
South Carolina finally found some offense, but after facing such a large deficit to start the game, it trails by 15 points at the end of the first quarter. Texas sophomore Justice Carlton has been red-hot, outscoring the Gamecocks (13 points) all on her own. Tessa Johnson is the only South Carolina starter who scored (4 points) in the quarter.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:22 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Dawn Staley\u2019s timeout seemingly shook her team out of its malaise, as Tessa Johnson nailed a 3-pointer out of the break to get the Gamecocks in the points.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:16 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Where is South Carolina? Texas opens the game on an incredible 14-0 run as South Carolina stumbles out of the gate, looking disjointed and undisciplined on both ends of the floor. Dawn Staley finally saw enough and called a timeout with just over six minutes to play in the first period.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:13 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Texas gets on the board first, and the Gamecocks\u2019 Raven Johnson picked up an offensive foul less than 30 seconds into the game.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 12:11 PM PDT<\/p>\n
Cassandra Negley<\/p>\n
Welcome to Bon Secours Wellness Arena, where South Carolina is playing Texas for the seventh time in 421 days. That\u2019s a lot of matchups in a span of one year, one month and 25 days. While each team is playing three games in three days, South Carolina played the early tip-off the last two games. Texas took the nightcaps.<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 11:52 AM PDT<\/p>\n
Jason Owens<\/p>\n
How big of an advantage will South Carolina have over Texas by playing Sunday\u2019s SEC championship game in Greenville?<\/p>\n
Sun, March 8, 2026 at 11:15 AM PDT<\/p>\n
Yahoo Sports Staff<\/p>\n
Less than an hour from tipoff, the Gamecocks sit as 3.5-point favorites over the Longhorns to take home the SEC title at BetMGM.<\/p>\n
South Carolina\u2019s moneyline odds are set at -170, while Texas sits at +140. The point total is installed at 134.5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a blowout a year ago, Texas completely flipped the script this time around in South Carolina. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28765,35017,2470,5278,3112,54177,9764,9915,9969,27,29,537,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-196154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-gamecocks","9":"tag-joyce-edwards","10":"tag-longhorns","11":"tag-madison-booker","12":"tag-ncaa-tournament","13":"tag-raven-johnson","14":"tag-sec","15":"tag-south-carolina","16":"tag-southeastern-conference","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-texas-headlines","19":"tag-texas-longhorns","20":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}