March 10, 2025
How South Carolina defeated Texas to capture its third straight SEC tourney crown
Fulwiley: 'Don’t count us out, don't doubt us'
GREENVILLE, S.C. — When Texas knocked off South Carolina to reach the apex of women’s college basketball in early February, whispers of uncertainty for the Gamecocks’ dominance as one of sport’s most elite programs began to mount from a small faction of college basketball fans.
Continue reading with a subscription to The Next
Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.
Already a member?
Login
The Gamecocks’ 66-62 loss on Feb. 9 to the Longhorns ended South Carolina’s 57-game conference regular-season winning streak dating back to 2021. That loss — only the second blemish of the season at the time — lit a fire in the minds of Dawn Staley’s team. It presented South Carolina players with a moment of motivation and a position that many of them had never experienced before due to the program’s recent dominance in the Southeastern Conference.
Ahead of Sunday’s anticipated trilogy contest between South Carolina and Texas, the Gamecocks donned warmup shirts that read “Doubt Us” inscribed across the front. As piles of blue, white and yellow confetti draped the court after South Carolina (29-3) defeated Texas (31-3) 64-45 — behind a masterful defensive performance — on Sunday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, South Carolina left no doubt that it remains the SEC’s bell cow among an immense collection of talented teams from a conference that is projected to produce 10 seeds in the women’s NCAA Tournament in a few weeks.
“Don’t count us out,” sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley said to a photographer on the court capturing the celebration of the Gamecocks’ third consecutive SEC tournament title. “Don’t doubt us. We back.”
@WiltonReports
While the opening quarter generated dismal shooting performances from both teams, the frame also foreshadowed themes that came to fruition throughout the contest like the Gamecocks’ stifling defense that resulted in Texas committing turnovers and struggles to execute offensively, along with strong play from the Gamecocks post players accented with South Carolina’s superpower, its depth.
By halftime, South Carolina strolled into its locker room with a 17-point lead against Texas and held the Longhorns to 16 points, the lowest-ever points in a half of an SEC tourney title game. The Gamecocks’ bench, a unit that averages 41.8 points per game, produced the same amount of points as the Longhorns total after two quarters.
“I think it’s fair to say the game was lost in the second quarter for us,” said Texas head coach Vic Schaefer. “ We didn’t shoot [the ball] well. … Probably had a few too many turnovers that quarter. …We gave them a 21-point quarter without scoring. I told my team, it’s like college baseball, if all you can score is two runs every night, you’re not going to win in college baseball.”
From there, South Carolina never looked back in its quest to hoist the program’s ninth SEC title championship trophy since 2015 in front of a resounding contingent of Gamecock fans.
Here are four takeaways from the Gamecocks’ win against the Longhorns.
Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?
Subscribe now to our sister publication The IX and receive our independent women’s sports newsletter six days a week. Learn more about your favorite athletes and teams around the world competing in soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers.
Readers of The Next now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.
South Carolina’s suffocating defense
From the opening possessions of the game, South Carolina made it difficult for Texas to orchestrate its offensive sets and make post entry passes inside to the Longhorn post players Taylor Jones — who eventually finished the contest 14 points and eight rebounds — and Kyla Oldacre, who was held to two points and two rebounds. The Gamecocks also placed immense on-ball pressure on the Longhorns guards and SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker, who still managed to finish with double double of 10 points off 4-of-13 shots, 10 rebounds and two turnovers.
By halftime, Texas committed 11 turnovers and did not earn a single free throw opportunity, a team that entered Sunday’s game averaging 13.2 turnovers per contest while leading the nation in free throws made and No. 2 in the nation in free throw attempts. What was surely a defensive clinic for South Carolina, Staley declared it as more of a “timely” performance and one where tournament championship experience with players like Raven Johnson and Bree Hall made a difference.
“You have to have players that have experienced it,” Staley said in the postgame news conference. “We came in here and we shot around, but we didn’t go live. We just said, This is how we need to play. Then you have someone like Breezy Hall, we were going over some of their high-frequency sets at shootaround. …
“It was a set that most teams run. I asked them if they wanted to go through it. They [players] were like, no, give us the hard stuff, give us the hard sets. She was locked into the game plan and wanted to know what she needed to do in order for her to help us win another championship.”
Texas, only one of three teams to defeat South Carolina this season, made an appearance in the SEC title game in its first season competing in the SEC. For that, Staley said there won’t be many years where the Longhorns won’t be competing for the league’s tournament crown.
“I know that come the next few years, Texas is going to be right back here,” Staley added. “… It’s just to win a national championship, you got to have been to a Final Four and experienced all the things that come with it. Then if you ever get a chance to go back, you just right some of the ship that needs to be righted.”
Order ‘Becoming Caitlin Clark’ and save 30%
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The Next and The IX, just announced his latest book. It captures both the historic nature of Caitlin Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible. Interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and so many others were vital to the process.
If you enjoy his coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX, you will love “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar.” Click the link below to preorder and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout.
The Longhorns’ lack of offensive efficiency
In addition to South Carolina holding Texas to 16 points in the first half, 11 of the Longhorns’ 17 third quarter points came from the charity stripe. Texas converted on three shots in the quarter and went 11-of-12 from the free throw line with a dozen of those points coming from Jones.
“We went on a little stretch, a little run, to come out in the third quarter,” Jones said after the loss. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t our night. South Carolina played a great game. Congrats to them.”
Texas shot 29.6% from the floor and tallied 12-of-14 from the free throw line.
The Next, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom
The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.
The Gamecocks’ depth, impact of forwards
Prior to Sunday’s top five showdown, Chloe Kitts and Sania Feagin produced strong performances to help the Gamecocks notch two wins against Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals and Oklahoma on Saturday in the semifinals. In the first two games, the duo combined for 62 points — out of South Carolina’s total 177 points in the two contests — 24 rebounds and nine assists.
On Sunday, Kitts finished one rebound shy of a double double with 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and one steal to earn the SEC Tournament MVP honors while Feagin generated 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals as well as the second of three Gamecock players — Fulwiley — to earn All-SEC Tournament honors.
“It’s kind of really cool to see someone go through their process,” Staley said postgame about Feagin’s string of performances as of late. “…The first three years of her [Feagin] didn’t quite look or feel or sound like what she was capable of. … I never let Feagin play less than her standard. That meant she sat a lot. … But this year it paid off. …
“When she’s locked in, she’s communicative, she’s skillful, she can stick to a game plan, she can defend. She’s got great footwork. … She is very efficient around the basket. That is her. You’re seeing all of her skill set that we saw during the recruiting process that we didn’t see on a consistent basis her first three years.”
Order ‘Rare Gems’ and save 30%
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The Next and The IX, released his latest book on May 7, 2024. This deeply reported story follows four connected generations of women’s basketball pioneers, from Elvera “Peps” Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.
If you enjoy his coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX, you will love “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.” Click the link below to order and enter MEGDAL30 at checkout.
Gamecocks’ fate of No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday
When ESPN revealed the second edition of the nation’s top 16 teams on Feb. 27, South Carolina was projected to be a No. 2 seed behind the four No. 1 seeds in UCLA, Texas, USC and Notre Dame. With UCLA defeating USC to capture the Big 10 title crown, Notre Dame losing to eventual ACC tournament champion Duke and South Carolina defeating the top team in the nation to add another trophy to its SEC title collection, Staley confidently believes the Gamecocks should be the top overall seed in the women’s NCAA tournament later this month.
As of Sunday night, the latest projections show South Carolina earning that spot.
“When you win this tournament, and you play the schedule that we played, I do think we’re the No. 1 overall seed no matter what it ends up being,” Staley said. “We manufactured our schedule to put ourselves in this situation. …I just hope the committee doesn’t discount our entire résumé. There isn’t anybody in the country that has played the schedule that we’ve played … that had a share of the regular season [title], then winning the tournament, having beaten the No. 1 team in the country. …
“If you don’t think our body of work deserves it, then somebody needs to speak out on it. If it’s not us, if it’s not our conference … I am going to go down fighting for what our team earned.”
Still, Schaefer believes Texas should be in this conversation, despite Sunday’s loss.
“I certainly think we have established ourselves as one of the top two teams,” he added after the loss. … When it comes to seeding, I know Dawn will think they should be over us because they’ve beaten us twice. …It’s one quarter. One quarter hurt us today. We’ll learn from that. I think we’ve earned our way and we’ll trust the committee to make that decision.”
Add Locked On Women’s Basketball to your daily routine
Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.
Written by Wilton Jackson
Wilton Jackson II covers the Atlanta Dream and the SEC for The Next. A native of Jackson, Miss., Wilton previously worked for Sports Illustrated along with other media outlets. He also freelances for different media entities as well. He attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism (broadcast) before earning a Master's degree in mass communication from LSU and a second Master's degree in sport management from Jackson State University.
