Austin, Texas: Booker Scores 24 as No. 6 Texas Women Beat Fairleigh Dickinson 85-65 in Opener

No. 6 Texas opened its season with an 85-65 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday night at the Moody Center in Austin, behind 24 points from senior Madison Booker and a double-double from senior center Breya Cunningham.

Cunningham sets the tone early

Cunningham scored the first points of the Texas season 11 seconds into the game, hitting the first three-point attempt of her career from the top of the key. She scored the first seven points of the night and finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in 29 minutes, making 8 of her 14 shots.

"What was going through my head? I hope I make it," Cunningham said. "And when it went in, I was like, yay, I made it."

Texas won the first quarter 30-8 and led 44-27 at halftime. Cunningham already had 13 points and nine rebounds by the break.

Booker fills the line

Booker, a two-time AP first-team All-American, scored 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting in her senior season opener. She added seven rebounds, five assists and five steals. The 24 points moved her to 1,993 for her career, fourth on the Texas all-time scoring list and seven points short of 2,000.

Freshman Isi Etute, the 6-foot-2 backup behind Cunningham, gave Texas nine points and five rebounds in 23 minutes in her college debut.

Knights shoot well in defeat

Fairleigh Dickinson, the two-time defending Northeast Conference champion, outshot Texas 48 percent to 45.3 percent and made 10 of its 20 three-point attempts. Reese Downey led the Knights with 17 points on five three-pointers, and Ane Valle added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Knights hurt themselves with the ball. They committed 18 turnovers, and Texas turned those mistakes into 22 points.

A new-look roster

Texas reached the NCAA Final Four for the second straight season last spring, then lost much of that roster. Point guard Rori Harmon now plays professionally in Turkey. Guards Jordan Lee and Aaliyah Crump transferred to South Carolina and Duke, forward Justice Carlton left for Houston, and center Kyla Oldacre was a senior last season.

Coach Vic Schaefer rebuilt around Booker and Cunningham, with a five-player freshman class ranked No. 3 by ESPN and guards Zya Vann and Jayda Clark, who arrived from Oklahoma and Australia. Booker said the new group is still learning to play together. "Tonight was not our best night playing together as a team," she said. "It is going to take time. It is going to take practice reps."

What is next

Texas stays at the Moody Center on Saturday, Nov. 7, against Northern Colorado, with tipoff at 7 p.m. CT. Fairleigh Dickinson, now 0-2, hosts East Stroudsburg on Monday, Nov. 9.