BON SECOURS WELLNESS ARENA, GREENVILLE: In a highly-anticipated matchup between two of the sport’s premier programs, Texas looked to be out of its weight class against a South Carolina club playing its best basketball of the season. The Gamecocks wrestled control of the SEC Championship game early on and never surrendered the momentum en route to a 64-45 victory, Sunday. It’s the ninth SEC Championship for USC, all coming since 2015.
Chloe Kitts was named the SEC Tournament MVP after scoring in double figures in each of the Gamecocks’ three victories in Greenville. Kitts finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in Sunday’s final.
It was just a month ago that Texas looked like the class of the conference after knocking off the Gamecocks 66-62 in Austin, Tex. In that game, none of USC’s five starters reached double figures and shot just 37%. But South Carolina has been playing with confidence over the last three weeks, winning its last seven games by an average of 19 points.
The game turned in USC’s favor in the second quarter when the top-ranked Longhorns (31-3) shot just 25% from the floor and were held to six points. Texas head coach Vic Schaefer wasn’t disappointed in his team’s effort, just disappointed that they weren’t able to halt USC’s run. “We had a bad second quarter. I think it’s fair to say the game was lost in the second quarter,” said Schaefer. “It doesn’t matter how good our defense plays, you have to score. We can’t score six points in a quarter.”
The Gamecocks’ defense was relentless, forcing 18 turnovers and holding the Longhorns to 30% shooting. Texas star Madison Booker scored 20 in the February 9th meeting but was limited to 10 points on 4 of 13 shooting, Sunday.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley highlighted the defensive contributions of Raven Johnson and Bree Hall, “We don’t win this game without Raven (Johnson) and Breezy (Hall). The attention to detail, the defense and the execution. We put those two in the position of quarterbacking our defense.”
Sania Feagin (11 points, six rebounds) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (five points, two assists) joined Kitts on the All-Tournament team. Tessa Johnson added 14 points to the championship effort.
With Sunday’s victory, the Gamecocks run their record to 18-1 in Greenville under Staley.
USC will enter the NCAA Tournament as a likely no. 1 seed with a record of 30-3. Schaefer made the case for Texas (31-3) in his postgame comments, pointing out that both of his club’s losses to South Carolina came in a “road game atmosphere.”
Fresh off another championship, Staley thinks her team earned it’s way to the top of the heap, “When you win this tournament, when you play the schedule we play, I think you’re the no. 1 overall seed.”
Texas, Southern California, UCLA and South Carolina entered the week on the top line of ESPN’s bracketology. We’ll find out what the committee decides to do Sunday, March 16th, when the Selection Show airs on ESPN at 8 p.m.
Final Stats
