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Texas defeats South Carolina to win its first SEC Tournament title

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook03/08/26josephcook89

Vic Schaefer‘s program has made plenty of history during his tenure. Between regular season conference titles and NCAA Tournament successes, the Longhorns have added a lot of hardware with Schaefer at the helm. But up to this point, it had not yet taken home the SEC Tournament title. That changed Sunday.

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In the backyard of the SEC regular season champion South Carolina Gamecocks in Greenville, S.C., Texas defeated South Carolina 78-61 to win the program’s first SEC Tournament title. It’s the first time a program other than the one run by Dawn Staley in Columbia has won the SEC Tournament title since Kentucky defeated the Gamecocks in 2022.

Texas’ win was spurred by a 14-0 run to start the game. Justice Carlton, who finished with 15 points, scored 13 points in the first quarter and six points in the first four minutes of the game. The Longhorns extended their lead to 17 at halftime, surging back after USC twice got the margin back to single digits in the second quarter.

Despite foul trouble from Carlton, Ashton Judd, and Madison Booker, Texas held the Gamecocks at bay throughout the third and fourth quarters to bring home the program’s first conference tournament title since winning the Big 12 in 2024.

Booker scored a game-high 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Carlton was right behind Booker with her 15. Jordan Lee added 12 points. Every Texas player who saw the floor scored except for Teya Sidberry, who missed her one attempt in the final moments. Breya Cunningham had eight points and eight rebounds. Rori Harmon scored eight points, had four rebounds, and logged four assists with only one turnover.

Texas, who finished third in the SEC regular season standings behind USC and Vanderbilt, entered the SEC Tournament ranked No. 4 in the AP poll behind No. 1 UConn, No. 2 UCLA, and No. 3 South Carolina. The win solidifies the Longhorns’ status as a 1-seed in the Fort Worth regional in the upcoming Women’s March Madness. The full bracket will be revealed next Sunday, March 15, the same day as the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament selection show.

The Longhorns will be able to have a nice piece of hardware in frame when the selection show pans to Austin after defeating the Gamecocks and taking home the SEC Tournament title.

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