Messed with Texas: No. 2 South Carolina grabs Top 5 win over Longhorns
South Carolina women’s basketball got its revenge on Thursday night.
Dawn Staley and the No. 2 Gamecocks beat No. 4 Texas 68-65 at home in Colonial Life Arena. The Longhorns dealt USC its only loss of the season back in November.
The Quad 1 win is an impressive addition to South Carolina’s NCAA Tournament resume and gives the Gamecocks (18-1, 5-0 SEC) a leg up on the Longhorns (18-1, 3-2 SEC) in the SEC standings.
Each member of South Carolina’s starting five finished with double-digits Thursday. The Gamecocks were led by a 14-point performance from Joyce Edwards.
Veteran guard Raven Johnson, meanwhile, score two critical buckets in the game’s final 1:07 and scored or assisted on 12 of USC’s 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“It came down to will and grit,” Johnson said. “I think we did a good job at the end of executing the things that coach wanted. We didn’t want to lose in the CLA in front of all these fans. ... We dug deep and we got to win.”
Back and forth from start to finish
South Carolina and Texas have now faced off six times in two seasons. Most of those games have been a rock fight. Thursday night was no different.
“They knew how important this game was, and so did we,” Staley said. “It was a knockout, drag-out. It was as advertised.”
The Gamecocks and Longhorns were tied 32-32 at halftime. Texas got out to an early lead after South Carolina struggled on offense. The Longhorns built a 20-13 lead in the first quarter after holding the Gamecocks to just three made field goals in the period. USC failed to make a field goal in the final 7:58 of the first quarter.
South Carolina was able to grab some momentum by turning defense into offense in the first half. One such time helped South Carolina tie the game going into the break. The Gamecocks forced five turnovers in the final 2:52 of the second quarter and ended the period on a 7-0 run. A pair of free throws from Joyce Edwards tied the game at 32-32.
Things were just as tight to start the third quarter. South Carolina and Texas both made seven field goals in the period, but Texas won the quarter 17-16. The Longhorns took a 49-48 lead into the fourth quarter.
With just under five minutes remaining in the fourth, neither team had led by more than 3 points at any point in the second half. Madina Okot changed that when she drilled a 3-pointer to give South Carolina a 61-57 lead with 3:21 left. It was just the third 3-pointer of Okot’s career.
“The play of the game is Okot’s 3,” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer said.
USC’s biggest lead of the game was five points when a layup from Raven Johnson gave the Gamecocks a 64-59 lead with 55 seconds left. Texas cut South Carolina’s lead to three points a few different times in the final minute but couldn’t overcome the deficit.
Defense, defense and more defense
Staley and Schaefer’s patented strong defensive philosophies were on full display in the matchup.
South Carolina and Texas combined for a whopping 42 turnovers in the game.
The Longhorns, who averaged 10.5 turnovers coming into the game, accounted for 22 Thursday. The Gamecocks, who averaged 12.1 turnovers prior to Thursday, had 20. Sure, some of those turnovers on both sides were self-inflicted mistakes, but that wasn’t the case for all of them.
After the game, Staley and her players lauded Texas’ full-court press for giving the Gamecocks issues on offense.
“They’re disruptive,” Staley said. “They dictate. They they make it hard for you to catch. Their man-to-man press, they top you. They make you make the perfect pass for 40 minutes. I didn’t think they were going to press us as much as they did, because they alleviated some of that pressure when we played them the first time. But they just kept going. Very bothered by it.”
South Carolina recorded nine steals as a team, led by Edwards with three. The Gamecocks were able to score 23 points of those turnovers.
“They got stops, but it came down to us getting stops too,” Johnson said. “So it was basically just defense versus defense.”
Game MVP: Raven Johnson
Veteran point guard Raven Johnson was huge against Texas, especially in the game’s final moments.
Johnson hit two big shots to extend South Carolina’s lead in the final seconds of the game. Her layup with just over a minute remaining in the game gave USC a 64-59 lead (its largest of the game at that point). She followed it up with a jumper on the next possession to give USC a 66-61 lead with 23 seconds left.
Johnson finished with 10 points, four rebounds and six assists in the game
Honorable mention for game MVP goes to Agot Makeer. The freshman wing provided valuable minutes off the bench for the Gamecocks against Texas. Makeer finished with eight points and two rebounds in 13 minutes. She also gave a valiant effort in helping defend Texas star forward Madison Booker.
South Carolina’s next four games
- Sunday, at Coppin State, Noon (ESPN+)
- Jan. 22 at Oklahoma, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
- Jan. 25 vs Vanderbilt, 3 p.m. (ESPN)
- Jan. 29 at Auburn, 9 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 9:17 PM.
