Jayda Clark scored a collegiate career-high 24 points and four Longhorns finished in double figures as No. 6 Texas defeated South Dakota State, 93-63, Wednesday at Moody Center. Clark shot 10-of-15 from the field and 3-of-4 from 3-point range while adding five rebounds and three assists, and the win moved the Longhorns to 3-0 on the season. Zya Vann added a season-high 14 points, Bryanna Preston recorded 11 points and Breya Cunningham contributed 10 points and six rebounds.
Texas set the tone early and never trailed. Vann led the Longhorns with nine points in the opening quarter, and a 6-0 run forced a South Dakota State scoring drought of 2:20 before Texas followed with an 8-0 run. The Longhorns forced six turnovers in a span of four minutes and held the Jackrabbits to 15 points in the quarter to take a 26-15 lead after the first.
Cunningham got the Longhorns going in the second quarter with a basket, then came up with a steal on the next play and scored again. With two minutes left in the half, Madison Booker scored six points in 45 seconds as Texas pulled away late in the period. Booker and Vann each had nine points in the first half, and the Longhorns scored 14 points off South Dakota State turnovers before the break. Texas closed the half on a 6-0 run to lead 45-31.
Clark opened the second half with a spin-move layup, and after Preston forced a steal, Clark finished another layup before hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to bring her total to 17 points. The Longhorns caught fire in the third quarter, going 12-of-14 from the field, including 12 of their last 13 attempts, and Vann hit a 3-pointer to end the period with Texas ahead, 74-49.
Clark opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, and she continued to make plays on both ends with a steal and an assist to Preston for a layup. Texas went on an 8-0 run with two minutes remaining and built its largest lead of the night at 32 points before closing out the game, 93-63.
The Longhorns won with defense and efficiency, forcing 21 South Dakota State turnovers and scoring 28 points off them while committing just five turnovers of their own. Texas finished with 15 steals, four of them from Preston, who also led the team with five assists. The Longhorns dominated inside with 46 points in the paint, grabbed 11 offensive rebounds for 17 second-chance points and added 13 fast-break points. Cunningham now has 956 career points as she closes in on 1,000.
South Dakota State (1-2) shot 44.2% from the field on 23-of-52 and 44.4% from 3-point range on 8-of-18, but the Jackrabbits could not overcome their 21 turnovers. Katie Vasecka and Claire Sheppard led South Dakota State with 12 points each, with Sheppard scoring hers off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting with two 3-pointers, while Audrey Shindelar added 10 points and Brooklyn Meyer finished with nine points and eight rebounds. Mahli Abdouch led the Jackrabbits with five assists.
With the victory, Texas has won 47 straight games at Moody Center and improved to 72-5 all-time in the building. The Longhorns return to Moody Center to host Tarleton State on Saturday, Nov. 14, with tip-off set for 12 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
