South Carolina rolled to a dominant win over Texas to pick up yet another SEC tournament title on Sunday afternoon. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Dawn Staley backed up the luck of the coin flip this week in South Carolina.

The Gamecocks rolled over top-ranked Texas, 64-45, in the SEC tournament championship game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina on Sunday afternoon. That marked the Gamecocks’ ninth conference tournament title in the last 11 events, and their third straight. But more importantly, it may have given the reigning national champions the edge to claim the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Gamecocks, after a slow opening 10 minutes, broke the game open completely in the second quarter. Texas star Rori Harmon took an inadvertent shot to the face early in that period, which sent her to the bench with an ice pack pressed against her nose. The Gamecocks then took full advantage with her briefly sidelined. They went on a 15-0 burst, and held Texas scoreless for more than six minutes, to break open a double-digit lead. It was Harmon who finally broke the dry spell for the Longhorns with a jumper from the top of the key. The Gamecocks ended up finishing the quarter outscoring Texas 21-6, which gave them a 17-point lead at the break. Texas’ 16 points in the first half were the fewest in the championship game’s history.

Though it was much more even the rest of the way, South Carolina didn’t let up. The Gamecocks pushed their lead to 20 after a Tessa Johnson 3-pointer late in the third quarter, and then cruised to the 19-point win without much of an issue. Texas’ final run — an 11-6 start to the fourth quarter — simply came too late to make a difference.

Chloe Kitts, who was named the SEC tournament MVP, led South Carolina with 15 points and nine rebounds in the win. Johnson added 14 points off the bench, and Sania Feagin tallied 11 points and six rebounds. The team had 15 turnovers and shot just 3-of-13 from behind the arc.

The Gamecocks now hold a 30-3 record headed into Selection Sunday. They ended the season on a seven-game win streak, all of which they won by double digits, and more than made up for a tight loss at Texas and a blowout home loss to UConn in February.

Taylor Jones led the way for Texas with 14 points and eight rebounds. Harmon added 14 points, too, and Madison Booker, the SEC Player of the Year, had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Longhorns went just 1-of-7 from behind the arc as a team. It was their lowest-scoring game of the season, second to only the 50 points they put up in their loss at South Carolina in January.

The Longhorns, who now sit at 31-3 on the season, were projected to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament in ESPN bracket analyst Charlie Creme’s latest projection headed into Sunday’s game. They won a share of the SEC regular season title with South Carolina, though the Gamecocks took the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament after winning a coin-flip tiebreaker. The Longhorns narrowly made it into the title game on Sunday after sneaking past LSU the night before, which marked their 15th straight win.

While the Longhorns are still very capable of making a massive NCAA tournament run, the Gamecocks completely shut them down on Sunday. The SEC, even with Texas’ addition to the conference, very clearly still runs through Columbia.