Oh how the tables turn! Back on February 9 when the Texas Longhorns hosted South Carolina, Dawn Staley was not a fan of officiating from the get-go as Vic Schaefer’s team led by 18-19 in the first quarter. Then, the reigning National champion HC called out officiating, “Our team or their team, let the players play.” Of course, USC lost that second meeting of the season 62-66. But entering the Final Four, it was their fourth meeting of the season, with Staley leading 2-1.

Vic admitted after losing 57-74, “We lost to a better team tonight.” And that’s true, the Gamecocks outplayed Texas in every aspect possible, attacking on both sides of the floor. But those words came after an excruciatingly painful game where the whistles took over the play on the floor and in the middle of what everyone is calling an “Officiating blunder” was the Texas star player Madison Booker.

Texas came into this game riding a 12-5 wave with Madison at the helm. With 3:25 on the game clock for the first quarter, the forward picked her first shooting foul on Joyce Edwards.

And if that wasn’t enough, Madison picked a loose ball foul, forcing Vic to bench her for the entire opening quarter. Although the HC had all his faith in the leading star to not pick another foul so early in the game, the next one came quite soon.

At  2:29 mark, Madison Booker heard a whistle for her again, again forcing her out of the game. What was surprising was, Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, who subbed in for Booker, also picked a foul just 20 seconds in. In fact, by the half time, Texas had already recorded 10 of their total 17 fouls of the night, with 3 belonging to Madison, the offensive weapon for the Longhorns. In contrast, the Gamecocks were only called for 7 fouls in this time span.

You could hear the collective gasp in the arena. Booker out? Already? Vic Schaefer wasn’t having it. “That’s a bad call!” he shouted at the officials, echoing the same frustration his star player felt. And he wasn’t wrong. For the first time in her career, Booker picked up three fouls before halftime. That too in a Final Four game and against a team as physical as South Carolina? That’s not just bad luck. That’s momentum-shifting.

It wasn’t just fans who noticed. The South Carolina bench knew exactly how valuable Booker’s foul trouble was. Right after she picked up her second, Joyce Edwards threw up two fingers, acknowledging what everyone was thinking: “That’s two on Booker. This changes everything.” And it did. What made it worse? The lack of reciprocity in the officiating.

Vic spelled out the frustration in the postgame presser, “I didn’t think the one on the sideline was a foul. If you’re going to go off of that and allow everything else that happened in the game, it’s not it. But it is what it is. It was right in front of me.” In a physical game with a do-or-die situation, Staley and Co. rendered the chaotic Booker powerless who would only play safely moving on, and that’s when the reigning champions struck Texas.

Top Comment by LuBrown

Coach Schaefer teaches ALL his defenders to overplay & reach for every pass…eventually you are getting the cal

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While Booker sat, South Carolina went to work. The Gamecocks first outscored Texas 20-16 in the second quarter, swinging momentum in their favor entering the second half with 38-35.

In the third quarter, the Longhorns looked flat at 20-9. South Carolina? Confident. Composed. In control. Texas, a team averaging nearly 75 per game was brought to a standstill—not because of great defense alone, but because the player who typically drives the offense was not roaring anymore.

With three fouls already to her name, Madison subbed into the game early in the third quarter, but with her confidence broken, she only made 2 points total in the quarter, going 1 of 5 from the field.

Alexa Philippou of ESPN, also noted during the game, “Just heard Vic Schaefer say to his bench, ‘I didn’t know she had a foul or else I’d take her out,’ presumably about Madison Booker.”

Although the game ended with Gamecocks collecting 15 fouls to Texas’ 17 and both teams getting an equal 12 free throw count, close numbers if you look at it, the fact that Booker got called early on the night affected the outcome for the Longhorns.

As the game went on, the fans couldn’t take it anymore, they didn’t hesitate but dived into the comment section.

Dominance or biasness? Fans question the real move behind Dawn Staley’s win

Despite the tough competition, it wasn’t South Carolina on their radar — it was NCAA officials guiding the game. But it is hard to ignore the fact that this would be Staley’s yet another game where fans called out the officiating favoring her, both in the Elite Eight 54-50 win over Duke and the Sweet 16 win over Maryland (71-67). Fans came out firing as usual.

“NCAA, you ruin the Final Four every f——- year with your damn refs. Let them f——- play. Putting stars on the bench in the biggest game of their life is b——-. I’m not surprised ’cause it’s probably fixed anyway,” one frustrated fan posted on social media during the game.

And, honestly, their frustration made some sense too. While the Gamecocks’ dominance was evident in the second half, there was some sort of bias, too. Just ask Texas coach Vic Schaefer. After the game, he couldn’t help but point to a pivotal moment that changed the game’s trajectory—his star player, Madison Booker, getting into foul trouble early. And it wasn’t just that Booker picked up three fouls before halftime; it was the nature of those calls that raised eyebrows.

“Another big game in women’s college basketball where the refs are inserting themselves way too much. When will we be free of this?” wrote another spectator on X.

The third, whistled at the 2:29 mark of the second quarter, left the Longhorns stunned. Booker, the team’s leading scorer and a two-time conference player of the year, was simply trying to contest a pass when officials deemed her contact a foul.

She was subbed out immediately after the third foul, and without her, the Longhorns’ offensive rhythm collapsed. South Carolina capitalized on her absence with 9-20 run to close the quarter.

“NCAA is making a joke out of itself by picking winners and losers. The refs are refusing to call fouls against South Carolina in this women’s Final Four game. They repeatedly maul the Texas players underneath. It’s so bad, they can’t show the replay. Fixed,” claimed a user reacting live during the fourth quarter.

Texas struggled to maintain momentum in the second half, constantly adjusting to calls that disrupted their flow. Even as South Carolina coach Dawn Staley praised her team’s defensive scheme, Schaefer subtly pointed to the officiating as a turning point.

“When Booker got in foul trouble in the first half, that seemed to be when things kind of changed a little bit,” he said.

And guess what? Texas always seems to find itself in trouble when SC is there. Consider SC’s game against Texas on 9th February, wherein by the end of the first quarter alone, referees had blown the whistle a staggering 16 times. While nine fouls were called against South Carolina, seven were on Texas, halting any rhythm and turning a marquee matchup into a frustrating slog.

Back then, Staley herself came up to the player’s rescue. During an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, she turned heads. “People are here to watch athletes make plays — not refs take over the game.” And she wasn’t just talking about her own team. She even extended an olive branch to Texas coach, acknowledging that both sides were being robbed of a fair-flowing battle. Something similar happened in today’s game, however, it could be that all camaraderie dissolves in the face of a championship title. We didn’t hear much this time.

“Good 1st quarter. Refs calling a ton of fouls. #HookEm,” noted another fan. Well, it seems like in this season, fouls are often in the equation regardless of the team. Consider Carolina’s dominant win over Missouri. That game, too, was also overshadowed by a parade to the free-throw line. Mizzou was whistled for 30 fouls, with their two players fouled out. It was havoc.

“Refs already with the BS fouls,” chimed in yet another fan, echoing the broader feeling. Still not convinced? Consider Kara Lawson’s Blue Devils, who were called for 18 fouls compared to the Gamecocks’ 13. Staley then got fired up a little because, again, her star players like Jadyn Donovan were stuck on the bench due to foul trouble.

“Damn refs always help Carolina so freaking much. Can’t wait till UCONN beats them on Sunday,” another spectator vented, hoping for a more even game in the championship round.

In today’s game, SC did get an advantage as they now stand with a 74-57 victory against Texas, entering their second consecutive NCAA Championship game. So after reading all the given stats, what do you think was it justified??