Texas basketball crushes Drexel in March Madness, advances to NCAA Tournament second round
A No. 1 seed in the NCAA Women's Tournament for the first time since 2004, Texas looked the part as its 2024 March Madness run began Friday afternoon.
Shaylee Gonzales and Taylor Jones combined for 39 points and Madison Booker distributed a career-high 14 assists as Texas rolled to an 82-42 win over No. 16 seed Drexel in a first-round game at Moody Center. The Longhorns have won their four NCAA Tournament openers under head coach Vic Schaefer by an average of 29 points.
Texas (31-4) advances to play eighth-seeded Alabama (24-9) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, again at Moody Center. Alabama beat Florida State in its NCAA Tournament opener.
During a pre-tournament press conference Thursday, players from Drexel (19-15) were asked about their scouting report for Texas. Senior forward Chloe Hodges noted that the Longhorns had a substantial size advantage and that they also used a full-court press that forced many turnovers.
It took less than three minutes for the Longhorns to prove Hodges right.
Texas scored the first nine points, six of those coming in the paint. The Longhorns also produced two sequences that featured a UT bucket, a quick steal by Aaliyah Moore and then another score.
With 7:47 left in the first quarter, Drexel was forced to call a timeout. Texas was up 9-0. Its lead never dipped below five points the rest of the game.
Gonzales knocked down five 3-pointers in the winning effort while Jones scored her 18 points in just 18 minutes. The veteran guard and forward combined to shoot 15-for-22 from the field.
Booker, Texas' star freshman who was named a second-team All-American earlier this week, was limited to eight points on 4-of-11 shooting. But her 14 assists fell just three short of the school record set by Kamie Ethridge in 1984 against Texas A&M.
Drexel was looking to become only the second No. 16 seed to win an NCAA Tournament game. The 1998 Harvard team, though, remains alone in the history books. The Dragons were the No. 7 seed in the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament before they won four games in a four-day span last week.
Drexel was led by Amaris Baker's 10 points. The Dragons committed 21 turnovers and shot 35.3% from the field.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas vs Drexel in March Madness: No. 1 seed strolls into second round
