COLUMBIA — Senior guard Bree Hall spent most of Saturday night on YouTube.

She was watching Madison Booker highlights, watching how she moves, getting extra studying in before her big test on Sunday, where she had to guard the sophomore star for No. 6 Texas.

Hall passed the test.

Hall locked down Booker for 40 minutes and never let her get comfortable in Colonial Life Arena, guiding No. 2 South Carolina women’s basketball to a 67-50 win over the Longhorns (16-2, 3-1 SEC).

Booker, who came into Sunday averaging 14.9 points, finished with seven on 3-of-19 shooting from the field.

“My teammates and the coaching staff really put a lot of confidence in me,” Hall said. “Trusting myself and I also made sure I trusted my defense on the help side.”

Hall forced Booker into tricky shots, face guarded her and didn’t provide help off Booker too much. If a guard wanted to drive and dish to Booker, that option would be met with tight coverage. Booker went 0-of-8 from the floor in the first quarter. By halftime, she was 1-of-14.

Eliminating Texas’ leading scorer early was essential for the Gamecocks (16-1, 4-0), setting the tone from the start that every basket Booker wanted, she would have to earn.

Hall logged zero steals, but one steal specifically that went to MiLaysia Fulwiley happened because of Hall. With six minutes left in the third, Booker drove toward the left corner but Hall stayed low and went with her, channeling her in the direction of Fulwiley who stripped the ball for a fast break layup.

The stat sheet didn’t fully depict the job that Hall did on offense, as her seven points weren’t the highest on the team but were still some of the most important, like a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, when Texas had cut the lead to 13.

“I thought today she just put it all together for us,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said of Hall. “The pace that she was playing with, the focus, and offensively, she hit a big shot, she hit a big 3-pointer … she’s always ready, she’s playing like the senior we expected.”

With 5:02 left in the second, Hall cut back door and although the bounce pass was a bit in front of Hall, she chased it down under the basket and drew defenders. She then hit senior forward Sania Feagin at the top of the key who quickly found freshman Joyce Edwards for the open layup and foul.

“We call those hockey assists,” Staley said with laughter. “We need (Hall) making more of those decisions.”

South Carolina’s Sania Feagin provides inside presence

The stat sheet did accurately show the impact of Feagin, who not only found Edwards on that pass but she logged two more assists to go with six blocks, nine rebounds and eight points. Feagin was dominant on offense from the start, hitting back-to-back jumpers to open the game when Taylor Jones played off her.

Besides Booker and star point guard Romi Harmon, who South Carolina point guard Raven Johnson held to nine points, the Longhorns had size to deal with as well.

Feagin protected the rim and forced a lot of off balance baskets, while playing help side defense when a guard slipped by the initial defender.

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“She had a pretty good game from a statistical standpoint but all the other stuff, the intangibles,” Staley said of Feagin. “She kept her feet above the bigs, she was communicating and directing.”

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin