Texas’ first trip to South Carolina was awful. But at least one assistant coach had a premonition.

“When we walked out of their arena a month ago, my assistant looked at me, Elena Lovato said, ‘We will beat them in a month,’” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “Now that's God's honest truth.”

On Super Bowl Sunday, the nation was treated to a tremendous top-five rematch at Moody Center. Only this time, Madison Booker made her shots, Kyla Oldacre straight up bullied the Gamecocks in the paint and the Longhorns treated a sold-out crowd to a sizzling 66-62 win.

No. 2 South Carolina (22-2, 10-1 SEC) saw its amazing streak of 57 straight league wins get snapped, which coach Dawn Staley seemed to take in stride. “The law of averages say, at some point, somebody's gonna get you,” she said.

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As for No. 5 Texas, guard Rori Harmon said, “Where it ranks? It’s pretty high up there.”

Staley said women’s basketball is “It” right now. She’s right. But so are the Longhorns (24-2, 10-1).

Texas led from the opening tip to the final buzzer. South Carolina tied things up with 2:02 left in the third quarter during a sensational 10-minute stretch. But the Horns never blinked, and the announced crowd of 10,517 helped them across the finish line.

Booker finished with 20 points on 7-of-22 shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds. She was everywhere, it felt like. This was the Booker that Staley probably expected to see in Columbia. But Booker went 3-for-19 on Jan. 12 in a game Texas lost by 17.

Gamecocks make road trip to Columbia absolutely miserable for Vic Schaefer’s Longhorns in rude welcome to the SEC

Texas coach Vic Schaefer tried to lighten the mood four days ago. No sense in getting all knotted up about facing No. 2 South Carolina, he said last Thursday. Come Sunday, it’s just a basketball game. “We’re pretty good. They’re pretty good,” the Texas women’s coach said. “Let’s go play.” It’s a make-or-miss game, and […]

“Book is a great player,” Staley said. “She gets to her spots. I thought she did a great job rebounding. She was a beast on the board.”

And when Booker or Harmon missed, there was Oldacre, physically snatching the ball away from the Gamecocks at times and scoring at will. “I mean, we had no we had nobody to stop her,” Staley said of Oldacre. “Unstoppable. Both sides of the ball.”

Oldacre finished with 13 points and six rebounds. She’s had bigger scoring nights, but this was easily her best game as a Longhorn.

“My confidence was up,” Oldacre said. “Just pretty much owned it, because I know no one can stop me. I can only stop myself.”

Oldcare admitted she’s a different player now than she was two months ago. The Miami transfer struggled adjusting to questionable officiating because of her 6-foot-6 frame.

She gets called for fouls just because she’s bigger than everyone else, like in the first half when a South Carolina guard fell down. She slipped, but Oldacre was called for the foul anyway.

“I texted coach Lovato prior the two days we started preparing for South Carolina, saying I wanted to dominate,” Oldacre said. She wanted all the extra practice repetitions possible. In Oldacre’s mind, “pretty much I am scratching my surface potential.”

Said Booker: “A monster. She's a monster in the post. We got a monster over here. Indeed.”

Don’t overlook some of the other contributions. Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda had eight points and five rebounds while senior Shay Holle and freshman Jordan Lee both scored four each.

Harmon didn’t have the best offensive night, but she sank the two free throws that iced it 10.8 seconds left.

South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley had a team-high 13 points, but she was the only Gamecocks’ player in double figures. South Carolina shot 37% overall, went 5-for-19 from 3-point range and just didn’t have a satisfactory answer for Oldacre inside.

The Horns needed this more, and they took it.

“We cannot compete at a high level at the University of Texas if we don't have toughness and we don't have a competitive spirit,” Schaefer said.

They’ve got plenty of that, for sure. Now the Horns have to keep it going. None of this matter if they come back and drop Thursday’s game at No. 11 Kentucky. Or next Sunday’s epic battle against No. 6 LSU.

Beating South Carolina was big, no question. But it’s on to the next one.

“We’re not satisfied,” Booker said. “I mean, yeah, we just beat the No. 2 team in the country. But, I mean, we still have a whole season, a lot more games to go to.

“We still have a lot of work. Just things to fix, details to clean up on, but I mean, that’s our mindset. It’s a mature mindset, and that’s what we’re striving for, more of a mature mindset.”