Women’s conference tournament takeaways: Texas takes down South Carolina

More teams are punching their tickets to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday as the major conference’s compete for championships. Other teams will be left sweating it out until Selection Sunday — wondering about their seedings, whether their bubbles burst or whether another team will slip up and provide them an opportunity.

Here’s the teams who have claimed bids for the tournament field.

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NCAA Tournament automatic qualifiers

Follow along for the highlights of the day:

Texas hits the trifecta with SEC win over South Carolina

A program-first SEC title? Check. A necessary statement win heading into the NCAA Tournament? Double check.

A path to the Final Four through Fort Worth (instead of Sacramento)? We’ll know for sure on Selection Sunday, but all signs would point to yes. So, check (in pencil).

Yes, there was plenty to celebrate for the Longhorns as the confetti fell on Sunday at the SEC championship. Their 78-61 win over South Carolina wasn’t just for the trophy. It should be what the Longhorns need to leapfrog South Carolina for the No. 3 spot in the committee’s ranking, earning Texas a preferential location for their regional — a one-hour flight from Austin to Fort Worth (as South Carolina likely preps for a cross-country, three time-zone shift flight to Sacramento).

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The Longhorns jumped out to a 14-0 lead less than three and a half minutes into the game, prompting South Carolina coach Dawn Staley to call a timeout. But by that point, the cushion was built and the Gamecocks had a hard time overcoming the rough start.

“We just came out punching,” Longhorns fifth-year senior Rori Harmon said. “That’s how you know we’re ready.”

This was the seventh time Texas and South Carolina have met in the last two seasons. But despite the familiarity, South Carolina surprisingly appeared caught off guard by the Longhorns’ defensive pressure. If there’s anything that Texas has a reputation for, it’s tenacious defense that limits opponents’ ability to get into an offensive flow. In each of the previous six meetings, Texas has held the Gamecocks to 15 points below their season scoring average. South Carolina turned the ball over 10 times in the first half alone on Sunday, and the Longhorns converted those giveaways into 14 points.

Sophomore Justice Carlton, who has averaged less than nine points per game this season, helped build the early lead with 13 first-quarter points. After halftime, it was junior Madison Booker who carried the Longhorns, scoring 14 of her game-high 18 points in the second half.

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What won’t show up in the box score is how disciplined Harmon was in managing Texas’ lead. Her four assists were far from a season high, but her patience and understanding of time and score were crucial to the victory.

Just a few weeks ago, after the Longhorns lost badly to Vanderbilt, coach Vic Schaefer questioned Texas’ heart, saying the players were the “softest” team he had coached in years. But the team that stepped on the floor in the SEC title game didn’t resemble that description in the least.

In front of a crowd that skewed almost entirely to South Carolina (the Gamecock faithful did their jobs and turned Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., into Colonial Life Arena-Northwest), the Longhorns never blinked.

Now, Texas gets to bring home a trophy. As the Longhorns look to punch a ticket to their second consecutive Final Four, they’ve given their fans a chance to turn Fort Worth into the Moody Center-North. — Chantel Jennings

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UCLA dominates Iowa, keeps pressure on UConn for No. 1 overall seed

Last season’s Big Ten championship was an annunciation for UCLA, the program’s entrance into the nation’s elite with its first conference title in nearly two decades.

The 2026 championship is more of an affirmation, a continuation of what the Bruins have done all season en route to an undefeated Big Ten regular season and a school-record 25-game winning streak. The conference tournament title, a dominant 96-45 win over No. 2 seed Iowa on Sunday, is merely one more step on the path to what UCLA is really chasing: its first NCAA women’s basketball championship.

Watching the Bruins against Iowa, it was easy to believe that a title is within their grasp. They obliterated the previous record for margin of victory (33 points) in a Big Ten title game and had the highest shooting percentage (63 percent) in a championship game. Six players scored in double figures, and UCLA had 34 assists on 40 made field goals. The Bruins limited the Hawkeyes to 17 field goals compared to 19 turnovers.

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With 18 Quad 1 wins against the toughest schedule in the country, UCLA has a resume that generally results in a No. 1 overall seed. Undefeated UConn still has its grasp on that, though a loss in the Big East title game would open the door for the Bruins, but UCLA will be on the top line heading to Sacramento for the regional round. After returning from Indianapolis, the Bruins won’t have to leave the West Coast for the rest of the postseason.

Even in defeat, the Hawkeyes will likely hold on to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, though the manner in which they lost could allow Louisville to slide ahead of them. The Cardinals lost in the ACC tournament final but at least pushed Duke to overtime.

—Sabreena Merchant

UConn continues Big East domination

UConn continued its perfect season and predictably advanced to Monday’s Big East championship game after dominating No. 5 seed Creighton 100-51 in Sunday afternoon semifinals.

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The Huskies jumped out to a 29-9 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back en route to its third consecutive victory over Creighton this season — all by at least 40 points.

The Blue Jays entered Sunday on a high after beating No. 4 seed Marquette on Saturday, which had head coach Jim Flanery attempting backflips (can we call them that?) on the floor in an electric postgame locker room celebration.