South Carolina women's basketball's Dawn Staley gives honest reflection on SEC Championship disaster vs. Texas appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks are no longer the reigning SEC Tournament champions . They were just a win away from continuing their reign, but they got tripped up in the SEC championship game by the Texas Longhorns .
South Carolina women's basketball had a slow start to the game, as the Gamecocks allowed the Longhorns to score the first 14 points of the contest and had a 15-point lead by the end of the opening quarter.
"I think Texas played inspired," the 55-year-old Staley told reporters following the game, via sports anchor Noah Chast of ABC Columbia.
"I think for us we just try to make plays that weren't there that forced us to turn the ball over and ignited their offense. I mean, they were hot in a half-court. We helped with live ball turnovers, and then it just snowballed. It's hard for us to overcome."
Texas' salvo in the first quarter put South Carolina's back against the wall right away, but it took Staley nearly seven minutes before finally calling a timeout .
"No. If I did, I would have called a timeout. Just let our players play through it a little bit," Staley said when asked if she considered takinga timeout earlier (h/t Chapel Fowler of The Island Packet).
"I don't usually do it. See if we could gather ourselves and make a play on both sides of the basketball. We couldn't do it."
The loss to Texas also snapped South Carolina's 12-game winning streak.
But South Carolina can redeem itself if the Gamecocks end the season winning the NCAA Tournament title . They have reached the final stage of the Big Dance in each of the last two seasons, winning it in 2024 before finishing runner-up in 2025.
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