In the Texas vs. South Carolina game, Dawn Staley criticizes the officiating.

AUSTIN — South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley voiced her frustration with the officiating early on in Sunday’s SEC matchup against the No. 4 Texas Longhorns.

During an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe at the end of the first quarter, Staley ripped the referees for some questionable calls against both teams.

“I mean, people are here to see the players play, and I know I can speak for Vic (Schaefer) on this, because either or, our team or their team, let the players play,” Staley said. “People want to see the players make the plays and make the game. So I’ll just say that. I will continue to talk about players. We’re not going to adjust, because this is the way we play.”

At the end of the first quarter, No. 2 South Carolina had already been called for nine fouls while the Longhorns committed seven. Texas led 18-16 at the conclusion of the opening quarter thanks to a nice start from Madison Booker.

The Longhorns eventually took a 36-27 lead over the Gamecocks into halftime after holding South Carolina to its second-lowest scoring quarter of the season in the second quarter.

Texas lost the first meeting of the season against South Carolina, 67-50, on Jan. 12 in Columbia. In that game, the Longhorns took 28 more field goal attempts than the Gamecocks did but were done in by a 16-3 disadvantage in fastbreak points along with shooting just 27.8 percent from the floor.