Booker Opens Senior Season With 24 as No. 6 Texas Rolls Past Fairleigh Dickinson

Madison Booker didn’t need long to show that the Longhorns’ national title hopes still run through her. The senior forward scored 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting, adding seven rebounds, five assists and five steals in 32 minutes, and No. 6 Texas opened the 2026-27 season with an 85-65 win over Fairleigh Dickinson in front of 9,688 fans at the Moody Center on Wednesday night.

Breya Cunningham hit a three-pointer 11 seconds into the game, and from there Booker took over the opening quarter. She hit a jumper off a Zya Vann assist and then scored on a putback that forced an FDU timeout. Two free throws stretched the lead to 15-0 before the Knights scored their first points. Booker kept going with a midrange jumper and a three-pointer that pushed the margin to 20, then hit one more jumper and found Cunningham for a layup in the final minute. She finished the quarter with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and Texas led 30-8 after one.

Fairleigh Dickinson responded in the second quarter. Texas went 5-of-17 from the field, and the Knights hit four three-pointers to win the period 19-14. Booker turned a steal into a jumper early in the quarter and later set up Isi Etute for a basket, but the offense around her never found the same rhythm. She went into the locker room with 15 points, and Texas led 44-27 at halftime.

Booker settled the game again early in the third quarter. After FDU opened the half with a basket, she scored on a jumper and was fouled, made the free throw, then picked off a pass on the Knights’ next possession. Later she hit another jumper, found Vann for a three-pointer, and in the final minute of the quarter turned a steal into an assist on a Bryanna Preston layup. Texas carried a 66-42 lead into the fourth quarter.

She opened the fourth quarter with a layup and a jumper that gave Texas its largest lead of the night at 74-46. Booker headed to the bench for good with just under six minutes left, finishing 1-of-4 from three-point range and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line with a plus-26 rating. Cunningham posted a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds, and Texas won the rebounding battle 44-29 while scoring 22 points off 18 FDU turnovers. Reese Downey led Fairleigh Dickinson with 17 points on five three-pointers, and the Knights won the fourth quarter, but Texas never trailed and closed out an 85-65 win.

The 24 points also leave Booker on the edge of program history. She entered the season 31 points from becoming only the fourth Longhorn to reach 2,000 career points, so she now sits at 1,993 and needs just seven more in Texas’ next game.