On Sunday afternoon, the new kids found out who still runs the Southeastern Conference.The Texas women's basketball team was unable to overcome a 40-minute shooting slump in a 67-50 loss at No. 2 South Carolina. Sunday's showdown featured the teams that were picked to finish first and second in the SEC's preseason poll, but it was the Gamecocks who established themselves as a clear-cut contender for a fourth straight conference championship as Te-Hina Paopao and Chloe Kitts both scored 11 points.Meanwhile, No. 6 Texas suffered its first loss in its new league. Having also lost in overtime at then-No. 10 Notre Dame in December, UT is now 16-2 with a 3-1 mark in conference play."Ain't nobody going to feel sorry for us," Texas coach Vic Schaefer said in his postgame press conference. "We've got to fix some things. We've been doing it, but today was not our day."Texas was facing a tall task in its first visit ever to Columbia. South Carolina was defending a 66-game winning streak at home. The Gamecocks also hadn't lost a conference game in more than three years.Texas guard Rori Harmon made the afternoon's first shot at Colonial Life Arena, but the Longhorns had fallen into an 18-9 hole by the end of the first quarter. Texas shot just 15.4% from the field during its lowest-scoring quarter of the season as All-American forward Madison Booker missed all eight of her tries. The Longhorns also managed to turn the 13 offensive rebounds they grabbed in the opening quarter into just four points."We talk about doing your job and being the thermostat and not the thermometer," Schaefer said. "We wanted to be the thermostat today, but we ended up being the thermometer. They set the (temperature)."Things didn't get much better for Texas in the second quarter as South Carolina extended its lead to 17 points by halftime. The Longhorns couldn't get any closer than 13 points in the second half.In its most lopsided loss since the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Texas was led by center Kyla Oldacre's 11 points and 16 rebounds. The Longhorns took 28 more shots than South Carolina but made only 22 of those 79 attempts. Booker, who entered the weekend shooting 47.2% in her two years of college ball, was 3-for-19 from the field. Texas tried only five 3-pointers and was 12 of 36 on its layups.This was just the fifth time in Schaefer's 159 games at Texas that the Longhorns failed to shoot at least 30%. Sunday's showing of 27.8% was the third-worst of the Schaefer era, besting only the games against South Carolina (23.0%) and Baylor (24.6%) in 2021."We had 28 more shots, we had 14 more offensive rebounds, we forced 22 turnovers, and we got beat (by) 17. You can raise your hand if you've ever covered a team that had those stats because I don't think anybody's ever covered that, men or women," Schaefer said. "What I just said, it's crazy."South Carolina (16-1, 4-0) made 51% of its 51 shots and had seven players score at least seven points. The NCAA's defending national champions have won 54 of their last 55 games."They're just very well-coached and a great team. They're No. 2 for a reason," Harmon said.Texas will attempt to bounce back Thursday when it travels to face an Auburn team that's led by former UT assistant coach Johnnie Harris and former Longhorns starter DeYona Gaston. Texas is 4-2 in its true road games this season. Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.

On Sunday afternoon, the new kids found out who still runs the Southeastern Conference.The Texas women’s basketball team was unable to overcome a 40-minute shooting slump in a 67-50 loss at No. 2 South Carolina. Sunday’s showdown featured the teams that were picked to finish first and second in the SEC’s preseason poll, but it […]

On Sunday afternoon, the new kids found out who still runs the Southeastern Conference.The Texas women’s basketball team was unable to overcome a 40-minute shooting slump in a 67-50 loss at No. 2 South Carolina. Sunday’s showdown featured the teams that were picked to finish first and second in the SEC’s preseason poll, but it was the Gamecocks who established themselves as a clear-cut contender for a fourth straight conference championship as Te-Hina Paopao and Chloe Kitts both scored 11 points.

“They’re just very well-coached and a great team. They’re No. 2 for a reason,” Harmon said.

Texas forward Kyla Oldacre looks to shoot over South Carolina's Adhel Tac during the second half of the No. 2 Gamecocks' 67-50 win Sunday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. It was the Longhorns' first SEC loss and their most lopsided loss since the 2023 NCAA Tournament. "Ain't nobody going to feel sorry for us," UT coach Vic Schaefer said.

Texas was facing a tall task in its first visit ever to Columbia. South Carolina was defending a 66-game winning streak at home. The Gamecocks also hadn’t lost a conference game in more than three years. Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.Texas guard Rori Harmon made the afternoon’s first shot at Colonial Life Arena, but the Longhorns had fallen into an 18-9 hole by the end of the first quarter. Texas shot just 15.4% from the field during its lowest-scoring quarter of the season as All-American forward Madison Booker missed all eight of her tries. The Longhorns also managed to turn the 13 offensive rebounds they grabbed in the opening quarter into just four points.”We talk about doing your job and being the thermostat and not the thermometer,” Schaefer said. “We wanted to be the thermostat today, but we ended up being the thermometer. They set the (temperature).”Things didn’t get much better for Texas in the second quarter as South Carolina extended its lead to 17 points by halftime. The Longhorns couldn’t get any closer than 13 points in the second half.In its most lopsided loss since the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Texas was led by center Kyla Oldacre’s 11 points and 16 rebounds. The Longhorns took 28 more shots than South Carolina but made only 22 of those 79 attempts. Booker, who entered the weekend shooting 47.2% in her two years of college ball, was 3-for-19 from the field. Texas tried only five 3-pointers and was 12 of 36 on its layups.

This was just the fifth time in Schaefer’s 159 games at Texas that the Longhorns failed to shoot at least 30%. Sunday’s showing of 27.8% was the third-worst of the Schaefer era, besting only the games against South Carolina (23.0%) and Baylor (24.6%) in 2021.”We had 28 more shots, we had 14 more offensive rebounds, we forced 22 turnovers, and we got beat (by) 17. You can raise your hand if you’ve ever covered a team that had those stats because I don’t think anybody’s ever covered that, men or women,” Schaefer said. “What I just said, it’s crazy.”

South Carolina (16-1, 4-0) made 51% of its 51 shots and had seven players score at least seven points. The NCAA’s defending national champions have won 54 of their last 55 games.”Ain’t nobody going to feel sorry for us,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said in his postgame press conference. “We’ve got to fix some things. We’ve been doing it, but today was not our day.”Meanwhile, No. 6 Texas suffered its first loss in its new league. Having also lost in overtime at then-No. 10 Notre Dame in December, UT is now 16-2 with a 3-1 mark in conference play.

Texas will attempt to bounce back Thursday when it travels to face an Auburn team that’s led by former UT assistant coach Johnnie Harris and former Longhorns starter DeYona Gaston. Texas is 4-2 in its true road games this season.