South Carolina downs No. 1 Texas to win SEC championship - ESPN

GREENVILLE, S.C. — South Carolina coach Dawn Staley thought winning this year's SEC championship would be much harder than any of the school's previous titles after the league added Texas and Oklahoma to the mix.

But it didn't look all that hard for the fifth-ranked Gamecocks.

Tournament MVP Chloe Kitts finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, Tessa Johnson added 14 points and South Carolina completed a dominant three-day run in Greenville by knocking off No. 1-ranked and second-seeded Texas 64-45 on Sunday to win its third straight Southeastern Conference tournament championship and ninth title in the past 11 years under Staley.

«They are young people that come down here and perform to a high standard every single time they step on the floor, and for that I am super proud of them,» Staley said.

Sania Feagin and Joyce Edwards each had 11 points for the Gamecocks, who boldly staked their claim to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Gamecocks won their three tournament games by 21, 18 and 19 points, with the last two coming against newcomers No. 10 Oklahoma and Texas.

None of them looked prepared to handle South Carolina's intensity.

South Carolina (30-3) never trailed and blew the game open with a 19-2 run to start the second quarter to build a 33-16 lead at the break behind a stifling defense. The lead ballooned to 21 early in the fourth quarter, and the Gamecocks were never threatened again.

«I took two timeouts in the second quarter, and we just could not stop (their momentum),» Texas coach Vic Schaefer said.

Staley improved to 5-0 against Schaefer in the SEC title games, although the previous four came when he coached at Mississippi State.

Kitts average 16.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game during the