Madison Booker Scores 24 and Breya Cunningham Adds 21 and 13 as No. 6 Texas Opens With 85-65 Win Over FDU

AUSTIN, Texas. Fairleigh Dickinson did not score for the first five minutes and 37 seconds of the season. By the time the Knights finally got on the board, Texas already led 15-0, and the question at Moody Center on Wednesday, Nov. 4, was never who would win. It was how much the new-look Longhorns would reveal about themselves.

The answer: plenty from two seniors, a little from everyone else. Madison Booker scored 24 points with seven rebounds, five assists and five steals, and center Breya Cunningham posted 21 points and 13 rebounds as No. 6 Texas opened with an 85-65 win over Fairleigh Dickinson.

Here is the official box score (opens in a new tab) and Texas' recap (opens in a new tab).

A 30-point first quarter

Texas set the tone on its first possession. Cunningham, a 6-foot-4 center who had never made a 3-pointer in college, stepped out and buried one from 25 feet off a Bryanna Preston assist. It was the first of 11 points for Cunningham in the opening quarter, and it said something about how coach Vic Schaefer plans to use a player who spent last season splitting time at the position.

Booker was even busier. The two-time AP first-team All-American scored 13 points in the first quarter. The Knights did not score until 4:23 remained in the period, and by then the Longhorns had already built a 15-point cushion that FDU would never seriously threaten.

Lizzy Spaight capped the period with a buzzer-beater, and Texas walked off with a 30-8 lead. Thirty points in a quarter against anybody is a statement. Doing it while holding the opponent to eight is the kind of start Schaefer teams are built to produce.

FDU refuses to fold

Credit the Knights for what came next. Fairleigh Dickinson is the two-time defending Northeast Conference champion, and it played like a team that has won in March. FDU won the second quarter 19-14, and the Knights moved the ball well enough to finish with 15 assists, the same number as Texas.

Jayda Clark led Texas with five points in the second quarter, but the Longhorns cooled off after their blistering start. They never trailed in the half and went into the break up 44-27. Cunningham already had 13 points and nine rebounds by halftime, and the AP noted she was working with a four-inch height advantage on her matchups.

Texas opened the third quarter by forcing a turnover and pushed the lead back out. Booker added five more points and two assists in the period, and the Longhorns took a 66-42 lead into the fourth. FDU won the final quarter 23-19 once the benches emptied. The fourth started with an Isi Etute layup and a Preston pull-up jumper off an FDU turnover, and the outcome was never in doubt.

Reese Downey finished with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. As a team, the Knights made 10 of 20 from deep and shot 48.1 percent overall, better than Texas' 45.3 percent. Ane Valle added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, and Iriona Gravley chipped in nine points and four steals off the bench.

How Texas won without shooting well

On paper, FDU shot the ball better. Texas won the game in the places that do not show up in shooting percentages.

Start with the turnovers. FDU committed 18, and Texas turned them into 22 points while giving up only 12 points off its own nine giveaways. Booker's five steals were the headline, and Zya Vann added two more.

Then the glass. Texas outrebounded FDU 43-29, and 20 of those boards came on the offensive end. That produced 22 second-chance points, which is how a team that went 5 of 12 from 3 and shot under 46 percent still scored 85. Cunningham grabbed seven offensive rebounds by herself, per the ESPN box score, and Booker added three.

Finally, the free throw line. Texas made 12 of 14 (85.7 percent). FDU attempted only seven free throws and made three.

That is a winning formula for a team still figuring out its offense. Schaefer's best teams have always leaned on defense, size and effort, and this one looked like it will again.

Booker climbs the record book

Booker's 24 points came on 10-of-20 shooting with a 3-pointer and 3-of-3 at the line. It was the 44th game of her career with 20 or more points, according to Texas, and it moved her into fourth place on the program's career scoring list with 1,993 points. She passed Cinietra Henderson, who scored 1,983 from 1989 to 1993. The 2,000-point mark is seven points away.

Cunningham's line might matter even more for what it says about the season ahead. Her 21 points and 13 rebounds made for the fifth double-double of her career, and she shot 8 of 14 in 29 minutes. Last season, according to the AP, Cunningham averaged 19 minutes, 7.7 points and 5.6 rebounds while sharing the center spot with Kyla Oldacre, who has since graduated. Schaefer wants more from Cunningham now, and opening night delivered it.

A roster rebuilt around two stars

The context is important. Texas reached the Final Four for the second straight season last spring, then lost a lot. Point guard Rori Harmon, the Longhorns' best perimeter defender, is playing professionally in Turkey. Guards Jordan Lee and Aaliyah Crump transferred to South Carolina and Duke. Forward Justice Carlton left for Houston. According to the AP, Schaefer did not land a veteran big to replace Oldacre's size and experience.

So the rotation is new. Vann, a transfer from Oklahoma, started and scored seven points with three rebounds and two steals. Clark, who came to Austin from Australia, started and added seven points with six rebounds. Preston ran the point for 24 minutes with three assists.

The bench is where the five-player freshman class, ranked No. 3 by ESPN, starts to show up. Etute, a 6-foot-2 freshman, was Cunningham's backup and might have been the most encouraging newcomer of the night: nine points, five rebounds and a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in 24 minutes. Addison Bjorn played 21 minutes with six points and three rebounds. Spaight had four points, including the first-quarter buzzer-beater. Grace Prenter hit a 3, the third of her career. Lovisa Asbrink Hose and Amalia Holguin also got minutes as Schaefer used 11 players.

Texas' bench totaled 22 points. That is not a huge number, but in an opener, getting real minutes from that many new faces matters more than the scoring.

What it means and what is next

Texas improved to 1-0 and pushed its home winning streak at Moody Center to 45 games, according to the school, moving to 70-5 all-time in the building. The Longhorns are now 7-0 in season openers under Schaefer and 41-12 in openers overall.

There are warning signs. The Longhorns made only five 3-pointers, and after the first quarter FDU actually outscored them 57-55. Against a ranked opponent, a stretch like that second quarter will not end with a comfortable halftime lead. Texas also does not yet have a clear replacement for Harmon's defense on the ball. In the preseason, the Longhorns lost 83-61 to UConn in Hartford on Oct. 19 before beating UCLA 81-64 and Baylor 85-64 in exhibitions.

But a team with Booker and a more assertive Cunningham has a high floor. If the freshmen grow into bigger roles by December, when Texas is set to face UCLA in Las Vegas at the Players Era Women's Championship, this group could look very different.

For now, the schedule stays at home. Texas hosts Northern Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m. CT on SECN+. Fairleigh Dickinson, now 0-2, hosts East Stroudsburg on Monday.

On the men's side, catch up on Matas Vokietaitis' 9-for-9 night against Chicago State. For everything Longhorns, visit our Texas team page.

Sources: official box score (ESPN), Texas Athletics, the Associated Press.

Photo: Texas Athletics.