rori-harmon-texas-getty.png
Getty Images

LAS VEGAS -- No. 4 Texas won the inaugural women's basketball Players Era Championship with a gutsy 66-64 victory against No. 2 South Carolina on Thanksgiving night. Coach Vic Schaefer said earlier this week that Rori Harmon is showing she is the best point guard in the nation. Harmon lived up to that hype on Thursday as she hit the game-winning shot.

The Longhorns made a big statement by going 2-0 in Vegas with the other win coming against No. 3 UCLA, especially since they were shorthanded due to the recent injuries of Aaliyah Crump and Bryanna Preston. 

"Well, I can't say that I've ever seen this before in my career," Schaefer said. "We've played back-to-back No. 2 and No. 3 in two successive days. I've never seen that... I'm extremely proud of this group. I mean, it took everybody that played and everybody on the bench. And we get some kids healthy, we're going to be even better. But, man, it's a pretty special two days, y'all."

Jordan Lee led the scoring against South Carolina with 19 points, while Madison Booker contributed with 16 points and Justice Carlton gave 13 off the bench. Harmon only scored six points but facilitated the offense for her teammates with nine assists, which helped her set the all-time Texas assist record with 777 career assists.

Texas won big in Las Vegas, but South Carolina, UCLA and Duke also got some valuable experiences. Here are some takeaways from the Players Era Championship.

1. Rori Harmon and Madison Booker have a special relationship

After Harmon hit the game-winning shot against South Carolina, Booker was one of the first ones to celebrate with her. When the final buzzer went off, the two players shared a long hug and some words. 

"What I said to Rori is I was proud of her," Booker said. "For one, I came to Texas to play with a good point guard, that is Rori Harmon. ... She's been putting in work every day. She's in the gym before everybody every day, getting extra work, reps with (assistant coach Sydney Carter). ... I'm proud of her. I told her I was just very proud of her and it's only up from here."

Harmon appreciated her teammates words and said Booker will always be the first teammate she goes to when they face a tough challenge.

"I had a moment with her because I feel like when we are like that together, our team is unstoppable," Harmon said. "Like, our chemistry is unbelievable... She says she looks up to me a lot, but I truly do lookup to her a lot, too."

2. Texas might have best defense in the nation

Defense wins championships is a true statement for Texas. Well, defense and a clutch shot from Harmon. Like Texas, South Carolina is a team that prides itself on defense, and the Longhorns had some periods in which they struggled to score. In order to succeed, they had to limit the Gamecocks as much as possible in Thursday's title game. Schaefer wants all his players to help out in this area, including Booker who was excited to talk about her improvement.

"I think my freshman year it was not so good on that end of the court," she said. "I remember telling coach Schaefer that I'm going to get better on defense my sophomore year. I keep trying to work on it. Every day in practice I'm trying to guard the best player. Whether it's a bad day, good day, whatever, I'm trying to guard them. Also, I'm seeing with Rori out there, she steps up guarding the best player four quarters. That makes me want to go harder. Jordan Lee, too. Seeing her she makes me want to deny and actually play defense. I credit it to my teammates more."

The way the Longhorns disrupted UCLA in a 76-65 win on Wednesday was special. They managed to hold Lauren Betts to only four field goals, and, as a team, the Bruins committed 20 turnovers.

3. Madina Okot deserves more attention

South Carolina teammate Joyce Edwards said Okot is "coming into her true self," and that has certainly been showing up on the stat sheet. Okot has registered four consecutive double-doubles, including a career-high 23 points and 13 rebounds in the Gamecocks' 83-66 win against Duke on Wednesday. She also got 12 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to Texas.

The 6-foot-6 center has only been playing basketball for about five years, but despite not having as much experience as other players at this level, her length and mobility make her an impactful player. She plays well alongside Edwards, who named her as one of the underrated players on the team.

"We all know Madina is a great player," Edwards said. "We knew coming in she was going to be a star. I feel like she's finally coming into her true self. She's dominant in the paint. Hard to stop her. She's very mobile. Great overall player. Now you're seeing it."

4. Charlisse Leger-Walker can be a leader for UCLA

Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 20 points in UCLA's 89-59 win over Duke in Thursday's third-place game. That is the most points she has scored as a Bruin, but most importantly this week she showed how important she can be as a leader for UCLA. After losing to Texas, the Bruins held a players-only meeting where they talked about how they wanted to handle some tactical aspects of the game. According to Kiki Rice, Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez took the lead in that meeting. 

Jaquez became more vocal since last season, but Leger-Walker is growing in that area, especially since she is coming back from a knee injury that had her sidelined since January 2024. Whatever was said in that meeting, the discussion certainly worked because the Bruins came out with a lot of energy and led Duke 30-7 after the first quarter. They did so without star player Lauren Betts, who is day-to-day with an arm injury.

Leger-Walker scored her 20 points, going 6 of 11 from the field, with five of those being 3-pointers. She is an excellent passer and showed it with six assists, while also adding five rebounds and three steals. UCLA coach Cori Close said she was one of the players who on Thursday "made huge strides" in becoming the best version of herself.

5. Blue Devils showed potential to bounce back

Duke was a top-10 preseason team but fell off the AP Top 25 Rankings two weeks ago. The Blue Devils' luck did not improve at Players Era as they went 0-2. However, their performance in the game against South Carolina showed some flashes of how they could head back in the right direction.

The Blue Devils kept it close against South Carolina early in the game and outscored the Gamecocks in both the first and third quarters. Dawn Staley said the Blue Devils were able to surprise her team early on.

"I thought they played a little bit different than their pressure defense," Staley said. "I thought they gapped us a little bit more than they normally do. We were actually expecting to be denied on the wings.They allowed us to catch it. They went under ball screens. Just gave us room. We almost fell for the bait by taking just jump shot after jump shot after jump shot. ... It was a little surprising to see that they didn't come out in their normal pressure defense fashion."

It is important to point out Duke played without five-star freshman Emilee Skinner, who is dealing with a lower body injury. Coach Kara Lawson said she plays a key role for the Blue Devils offense as she is the best passer she has had since taking over the program in 2020. There is currently no timeline on her return, which is unfortunate since Duke's next test will be No. 5 LSU.