Texas Defeats Alabama to Advance to SEC Tournament Semifinal

Five days ago, the Texas Longhorns women’s basketball team traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for their final regular season matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

They escaped with a tight 72-65 win, bracing to leave Austin less than a week later for the SEC tournament in Greenville, South Carolina.

On Friday night in the quarterfinal round, the Longhorns went head to head with the Crimson Tide once more, and this time, it wasn’t even close.

Longhorns dominate Crimson Tide

Texas Longhorns women's basketbal — Mar 6, 2026; Greenville, SC, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide guard Jessica Timmons (23) passes the ball pressured by Texas Longhorns guard Jordan Lee (7) during the second half at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Texas finished with a 83-60 victory against Alabama, earning their spot in the tournament semifinals, where they will play the Ole Miss Rebels.

The Longhorns outscored their opponent 52-19 in the first half, setting the stage for a relatively low-drama second half on Friday. Going into halftime, Texas had more points in the paint that Alabama had altogether.

Sophomore guard Jordan Lee led the team in this dominant scoring effort, racking up 16 points five rebounds and four assists. Lee accumulated these statistics across 28 minutes of play, getting to spend a large portion of the fourth quarter watching her team close the game out from the bench.

No player spent more than 30 minutes on the court against Alabama, showcasing the trust that head coach Vic Schaefer had in his bench players to take over and give his starting lineup time to rest. Schaefer has talked about this team’s depth throughout the season, and it was on full display in this matchup.

Freshman guard Aaliyah Crump earned 19 minutes, getting a significant amount of time in the latter half of her SEC tournament debut. She finished with 10 points, and several of her teammates on the bench, including Booker, were shown cheering her on in the fourth quarter.

The Longhorns will now prepare for their semifinal matchup against the Rebels, which is set for Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. With less than 24 hours between the end of the Alabama game and the start of the Ole Miss one, Texas will have to be strategic in terms of the recovery process.

The Rebels upset the Vanderbilt Commodores in their quarterfinal game, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep up their hot streak in Greenville against the Longhorns. The other two teams left in the tournament are the LSU Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks, who will play each other on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT for a chance at championship qualification.