No. 1 seed Texas opened up the women’s NCAA Tournament at the Moody Center with an 87-45 win over Missouri State.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Longhorns’ women’s basketball team is moving on in the NCAA Tournament.

No. 1 seed Texas opened up the women’s NCAA Tournament at the Moody Center with a win over No. 16 seed Missouri State, 87-45 on Friday. 

The Longhorns’ Jordan Lee led the team with 19 points, followed by Kyla Oldacre with 15 points and Madison Booker earned 14 points and 12 rebounds against the Lady Bears. 

The Longhorns maintained a fast-paced game early, with the overwhelmed Lady Bears struggling to keep up. The speed of Texas guards Lee, Rori Harmon and Bryanna Preston gave the Longhorns more momentum to drive to the basket and shut out the Lady Bears on defense.

After the first quarter Texas led 19-4, and then 44-12 by halftime. In the first half alone, Missouri State made a total of four baskets. Missouri State’s leading-scorer was guard Kaemyn Bekemeier, scored 14 points. 

This is the third consecutive year that Texas is a No. 1 seed in the tournament, and the Longhorns are aiming to win their first national championship since 1986.

The Longhorns will now advance to Sunday’s second round, where they will face off against No. 8 seed Oregon, who beat Virginia Tech earlier on Friday.