Texas Crushes Drexel in March Madness Opener

The University of Texas Longhorn women’s basketball team leveraged a 34-to-13 third quarter performance to handily defeat the Drexel University Dragons, 82-to-42, in the first round the NCAA Championship. 

Texas was led by Shaylee Gonzales with 21 points, shooting 5-of-6 beyond the arc.  Taylor Jones added 18 points connecting on 7-of-11 attempts.  DeYona Gaston notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.  Madison Booker added 14 assists along with eight points and five rebounds.  And Khadija Faye came off the bench to put up 10 points. 

The Longhorns held Drexel to 35% shooting from the field, and out-scored Drexel 44-to-18 points in the paint.   Texas force 21 turnover, producing a 28-to-7 advantage in points off turnovers.  The Longhorns out-rebounding Drexel 51-to-23, pulling down 26 offensive rebound, out-pacing Drexel 22-to-6 in second chance points. 

“We’ll take it.  I thought we had a lot of rust,” said Texas head coach Vic Schaefer.  “We had a really good third quarter.  That was probably the difference in the game, to be honest with you.” 

Looking ahead, Schaefer is concerned about his team’s performance. 

“We’ve had an edge all year.  Nobody picked up to win when Rori went down, so we’ve been playing with this edge of trying to prove ourself and get it done.  I just felt like we’ve lost that,” said Schaefer.   And I even told them before the game today, I kind of got on them a bit because I wasn’t impressed with our shoot-around, wasn’t impressed with yesterday’s practice.  Just really wanting us to get that (edge). 

The Longhorn meet Alabama in the second round of the NCAA Championship.