No. 1 seed Texas overpowers Missouri State 87-45

AUSTIN, Texas — As members of the Oregon women’s basketball team jogged off the court following an opening-round NCAA Tournament win over Virginia Tech on Friday at the Moody Center, they passed a glaringly large Texas team beginning to warm up for the second game of the afternoon.

The host Longhorns certainly looked the part of a No. 1 seed and national title contender.

“Damn,” a voice from the group of Ducks said. “I feel sorry for Missouri State.”

Other than the throngs of burnt orange-clad fans roaring at the nearly-packed 10,000-seat venue, it appeared to be a sentiment shared by many.

The SEC Tournament champion and third-ranked Longhorns were simply too big, too skilled and too deep for No. 16 seed Missouri State, cruising 87-45 past the Lady Bears.

The Conference USA Tournament champions were troubled by Texas’ length and speed, held to a chilly 28.6% shooting (16-for-56), dominated in the paint (50-12) and outrebounded (49-27) by a sizable margin.

When it wasn’t 6-foot-6 center Kyla Oldacre (15 points) doing damage inside, it was crafty 6-foot guard Jordan Lee (19 points) slashing and hitting jumpers, and that was a small part of the Longhorns’ arsenal.

Texas All-American junior forward Madison Booker (14 points, 12 rebounds) — one of seven players in the Longhorns rotation 6-1 or taller — hit a 3-pointer moments after an inbounds steal to make it a 26-4 contest at the 8:18 mark of the second quarter, a sequence that sent the partisan crowd into a loud pop.

“You can’t simulate a game like this, no matter how hard you try,” MSU head coach Beth Cunningham said. “With their physicality and athleticism, it took a little bit longer to settle in than I would have liked, but I am really proud of how we came out of halftime.

“We came in with much more composure and executed better. (The slow start) is what you worry about going into a game like this, playing in this environment. With them being as talented of a team as they are, they just don’t make anything easy for you.”

Missouri State guard Maycee James (13) fights off defender Rori Harmon during a women’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64 game against Texas in Austin, Texas, on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Photo by Kennedy Weatherby)

Missouri State (23-13) connected on just two field goals in the game’s first 13 minutes — both Kaemeyn Bekemeier 3-pointers — and Texas (32-3) proceeded to add onto its sizable lead.

“They’re great defenders, are No. 1 seed for a reason; they have a great shot to win this thing and go deep into the tournament,” Bekemeier said. “It’s a new level of basketball, and you’re not going to get nearly as much room (to shoot).”

Bekemeier, the Conference USA Tournament MVP and the league’s leading scorer, had a team-high 14 points. In Wednesday’s 85-75 First Four win over Stephen F. Austin, the former Republic star had 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Missouri State, which averaged just over 17 turnovers heading into the Friday contest, saw its 19 turnovers against the Longhorns get turned into 28 points.

Because of the size differential, Texas — a 44.5-point betting favorite — didn’t need to lean on its cache of 3-pointers against the Lady Bears. The Longhorns shot nine times from beyond the arc, connecting on two.

Texas guard Sarah Graves with Texas’ bracket name after a women’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64 win against Missouri State in Austin, Texas, on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Photo by Kennedy Weatherby)

Missouri State’s two young forwards, Lainie Douglas and Maiesha Washington, each had 11 points.

“They were really physical, and I knew that going into it. I worked on jump shot, just to have it in the bag for this game,” Douglas said of the Longhorns’ front line. “They were super physical and were hard to work around it. It’s still a learning process, and I’m excited to keep learning.”

After trailing 44-12 at halftime, Missouri State was able to get into somewhat of an offensive rhythm in a 22-point third quarter.

“The environment was amazing, and we might have been a little intimidated at the beginning,” Bekemeier said of the team’s slow offensive start before making progress after halftime. “I think we were getting shots, just some things weren’t falling.”

Missouri State guard Kaemyn Bekemeier (24) speaks with Texas head coach Vic Schaefer after a loss in the women’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64 game in Austin, Texas, on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Photo by Kennedy Weatherby)

Texas coach Vic Schaefer said he was impressed by how Missouri State kept fighting.

“They scored 33 (second-half) points on us after only having 12 in the first half, and I think that speaks a lot about an individual, a team, a coach, and staff,” Schaefer said. “I felt they were really tough.”

Ashton Judd, a former West Plains High School star whose father, Eric Judd, was a guard and team captain at Missouri State in the late 1990s, had four points and five rebounds.

MSU’s 42-point loss to Texas marked the second-worst defeat in the Lady Bears’ 38-game NCAA Tournament history (20-18 overall tournament record). It ranks behind a 78-34 loss to top-seeded Colorado in 1995.

Lady Bears could be even better next year if young group stays together

Missouri State guard Kaemyn Bekemeier (24) with her team ahead of the game against Texas during a women’s NCAA Tournament Round of 64 game in Austin, Texas, on Friday, March 20, 2026. (Photo by Kennedy Weatherby)

Missouri State featured one of the youngest rotations in Conference USA this past season. The group grew before its fanbase’s eyes in a topsy-turvy year that ended with a four-way tie for third, a No. 6 tournament seed, and an eventual CUSA Tournament title.

Bekemeier and Douglas would earn first and second-team All-CUSA distinction to lead a roster that regularly played four freshmen, including forward Maiesha Washington and guards Kendal Brueggen, JaNyla Bush and Audrey Hopkins.

MSU loses an experienced backcourt of point guard Maycee James and off-guards Faith Lee and Cady Pauley to graduation, but returns the bulk of its scoring, most of its best shooters, and two primary posts.

The Lady Bears appear to currently have the pieces to return to the NCAA Tournament if they stay in Springfield in an unpredictable transfer portal and NIL era.

Bekemeier, the Springfield-area talent who realized a childhood dream by helping MSU win a Missouri Valley regular-season title in 2025 and a CUSA Tournament title in 2026, sees the potential for greatness next year.

“Being a young group and having all four of those freshmen step in key moments the entire season and be put into this big position and big moments — that’s going to help them thrive down the road,” Bekemeier said. “There’s a whole lot of growing we can do, and there was a whole lot of growing we did this season that will definitely help us as a team next year.”

In Cunningham’s three previous seasons at MSU, she lost some proven underclassmen in the portal to bigger schools, but wasn’t completely gutted by the departures. 

Last offseason, Cunningham’s team was hit hard by graduation with the loss of four significant starters. The other starter, all-MVC guard Kyrah Daniels, transferred to Wisconsin.

In the 2024 offseason, forwards Kennedy Taylor (Kansas State), Jade Mosogayo (Colorado) and Indya Green (Georgia Southern before Southern Illinois) opted to play elsewhere.

Cunningham said she hopes graduation is the only reason her players are departing this offseason. 

“I was really thrilled with our freshman class and how they impacted us,” Cunningham said. “Lainie is just a sophomore for us, and Kaemyn is a junior. And then with the addition of another impactful freshman class… 

“It’s too early to think that far ahead now, but I’m excited about the group we’ve assembled. Hopefully, we can keep this group together, a group that will continue to grow and build. With the way the landscape is, whether it’s graduation or otherwise, you feel like you’re reconstructing your team every season. My goal is that the reconstruction is from a graduation standpoint versus a portal standpoint, but it’s hard to know what that looks like.”