Texas Starts NCAA Women's Tournament With Victory

The No. 2 seed Longhorns built a big lead and maintained it as they sent home Fairfield in the first round at the Erwin Center

The Texas Longhorns started what they hope will be a long NCAA Women’s Tournament run with a 70-52 victory over Fairfield on Friday in the first round at the Erwin Center. 

The Longhorns' leading scorer turned out to be their highly-touted freshman forward Aaliyah Moore, who finished with a season-high 18 points off the bench. Moore, who missed more than a month with an injury and took a back seat to forwards Lauren Ebo and DeYona Gaston the past month, seems to have found her game the past two contests.

In the Big 12 Championship game on Sunday against Baylor, Moore had a then-season high 12 points. The Longhorns won that game to claim their first Big 12 Tournament title since 2003. That helped Texas (27-6) claim a No. 2 seed in the Spokane Region as they attempt to reach the Elite Eight for the second straight season. 

Moore had a double-double, adding 10 rebounds. 

Rori Harmon

Aliyah Matharu

Vic Schaefer

Texas would love to get back to the Final Four, a place Texas hasn't been since 2003. That doesn't leave much time for reflection, according to senior guard Audrey Warren. 

“Yes, we are having fun. No, we don't want to smell the roses because we are not done yet,” Warren said on Thursday. “We want to keep having fun. I think to all of us winning equals fun. When you are winning like we are right now and competing like we are, I think you can see on our faces on the court and off the court how much fun we are having.”

Texas had a rousing start, but Fairfield (25-7) was stubborn and made the Longhorns work throughout the second half.

By halftime, Texas had a 39-18 lead thanks to nine points and five assists by Rori Harmon. The Stags shot 27.3 percent against the Longhorns’ stifling defense after 20 minutes and had no answers. 

In the second half, Lou Lopez-Senechal, the reigning MAAC Player of the Year, tried to throw a scare into the Longhorns. She helped Fairfield cut the Texas lead to 10 points in the third quarter before Texas pushed it back to 15 points.

Lopez-Senechal finished with 17 points for Fairfield, while Rachel Hakes had 10 points and Callie Cavanaugh had 10 points.

Along with Moore, Texas had two players finish the game in double figures — Harmon with 10 points and Ebo with 10 points. Harmon had a team-high 11 assists while Ebo added seven rebounds. 

Rori Harmon

Texas Longhorns

Texas Longhorns

Utah won the first game of the sub-regional, as the No. 7 seed Utes defeated No. 10 seed Arkansas, 92-69. The Utes (21-11) scored 44 points in the first half to build a 44-27 lead from which the Razorbacks (18-14) could not recover.

Four Utes ended up in double figures, led by Kennady McQueen, who had 20 points. Gianna Kneepkens had 16 points, Jenna Johnson had 12 points and Kelsey Rees added 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Dry Glyten had a team-high 11 assists.

The Texas-Utah matchup will be the last college basketball game played at the Erwin Center, which will be replaced next season by the Moody Center. 

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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