Wilson has 31 points, No. 3 South Carolina tops No. 14 Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A'ja Wilson didn't feel any pressure, just the call of responsibility. With teammate Alaina Coates hampered by foul trouble, Wilson took over.

Wilson scored a career-best 31 points and had 12 rebounds and four blocks to help No. 3 South Carolina beat No. 14 Texas 76-67 on Thursday night in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Wilson, a junior, scored nine points in the fourth quarter. Kaela Davis added 12 points, and Tyasha Harris had 10 for the Gamecocks (6-0). Coates scored just six points, nearly 11 fewer than her average, in 22 minutes.

??"It's kind of tough when your partner is in foul trouble," Wilson said. "But you have to let the game come to you, and that's what it did today."

Kelsey Lang had 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks for Texas (2-3), but spent much of the game in foul trouble, some of it incurred while guarding Wilson.

"I definitely need to play smarter on defense and not put myself in the position where I have to come out of the game because of fouls," Lang said.

Ariel Atkins added 14 points for Texas, and Joyner Holmes had 11.

Texas led by two points late in the third quarter. But South Carolina finished the period with a 10-2 run, helped along the way by five straight missed free throws by Texas.

The Longhorns hit just 7 of 14 free throws, while South Carolina hit 30 of 40.

"We did some things we set out to do, we just didn't manage the foul game at all," Texas coach Karen Aston said. "That's a discipline thing. We talk a lot about moving your feet for that one last step, boxing out after you've made them take a hard shot. You have to finish that play."

Wilson, a 6-foot-5 all-America forward, scored 18 points in the first half, two fewer than her previous season best for an entire game.

South Carolina shot 17 free throws in the half, 15 more than Texas. Six Longhorns picked up two fouls apiece in the half. Even so, they went to the locker room trailing by only 33-30 after a 3-point basket by Brooke McCarty late in the half.

Texas led by two points late in the third quarter. But South Carolina finished the period with a 10-2 push, helped along the way by five straight missed free throws by Texas.

Then Wilson went back to work, scoring seven points before the fourth quarter was half completed. Wilson converted 12 of 18 field goal attempts and 7 of 11 free throws working against a big Texas team.

"I thought it was a great college basketball game," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. "We were both trying to fight and claw to get a win."

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina: The Gamecocks are 3-0 against teams ranked in the top 15. This game was more difficult than the other two, when they beat Ohio State by 12 before crushing Louisville by 24. South Carolina limited McCarty, the Longhorns' leading scorer, to seven points, nine fewer than her average. In their previous game, the Gamecocks held Louisville star Asia Durr to seven points fewer than her average.

Texas: The Longhorns are 0-3 against teams in the top 15, but they were more competitive this time. They lost at Stanford by 12 and at Mississippi State by 11. Jada Underwood, a reserve wing player for Texas, missed the game against South Carolina because she is under concussion protocol for an injury she suffered in practice. Underwood, a freshman, averages 5.8 points in 12.3 minutes a game.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Connecticut won this week and remain undefeated, so movement by South Carolina is unlikely unless it loses at Duke on Sunday.

UP NEXT

South Carolina is at Duke on Sunday.

Texas faces No. 2 Connecticut on Sunday in Uncasville, Connecticut.