No. 4 Texas Uses Fast Start to Down Dukes

Sunday, December 8

Harrisonburg, Va.

2 p.m.

James Madison University

7-3,0-0Sun Belt

Texas

8-1,0-0SEC

Texas

James Madison

12/8/2024 4:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Mike Barber

By Mike Barber
JMUSports.com Correspondent

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Texas women's basketball arrived at the Atlantic Union Bank Center as the highest ranked opponent to play at James Madison since 2021.

And the Longhorns looked the part.

Madison Booker scored 21 points and Jordan Lee added 20 as Texas downed the Dukes, 93-62, in front of 3,361, the fourth-largest crowd to see a women's game at the venue.

"You're playing a really good team and we weren't at our best," JMU Head Coach Sean O'Regan said. "If you're not at your best, you can't compete with that team. You have play really well and we just didn't play really well today."

Coming off a 16-point outing in JMU's win over VCU, Ro Scott scored a game-high 22, her sixth straight game reaching double figures.

Peyton McDaniel finished with 12 points and eight boards and Ashanti Barnes added 12 points and six rebounds.

"This game has really been concerning to me because of the respect I have for Coach [O'Regan] and his team and their program, and how good those players are," Texas Head Coach Vic Schaefer said. "And they certainly didn't disappoint. They're going to win a lot of games."

The Dukes (7-3) played encouraging stretches in the first and third quarters, but Texas used a dominant 27-9 showing in the second stanza to build a lead JMU could never really effectively dent.

O'Regan said during the preseason he had assembled this year's non-conference schedule to help get his team ready to compete for a Sun Belt Conference championship.

The Dukes have already lost at No. 10 Notre Dame and beaten Florida on a neutral court. They still have a road game at NC State on Dec. 19 before jumping into league play.

Sunday, they faced a Texas team that had won its first seven games this season before losing to No. 10 Notre Dame its last time out.

Schaefer said that defeat had his team extra focused on the Dukes.

"The first half, they just ran into us at the wrong time," he said. "We know we didn't play very well the other night in South Bend."

The Longhorns (8-1) fixed that Sunday shooting 54.0 percent from the floor and going 9-for-17 from three-point range. They had 21 assists on 34 made baskets and only committed 13 turnovers.

Texas entered Sunday's game second in the SEC, forcing 25.7 turnovers per game, something O'Regan and his players were aware of.

"Their length and athleticism is massive and it speeds you up and makes you do stuff you're not used to doing," he said.

JMU, which was averaging 14.3 giveaways a contest, turned it over 24 times, including 13 in the first half alone, leading to 24 Longhorn points.

Texas jumped out to an 11-0 run, prompting O'Regan to call a timeout. From there, the Dukes played even – 20-20 – with the Longhorns for the rest of the quarter.

Still, when the period ended, Texas led 31-20 and had scored the most points in a quarter of any JMU opponent this season.

But the Longhorns opened the second stanza on an 11-3 run to grab full control of the contest.
"The end of the quarter was good and I thought it gave us a chance," O'Regan said. "Which way is this thing going to go? Is it going to get tighter or not? And it was not."

The Dukes return to the court next Sunday at Villanova.

Game Notes

JMU out-rebounded Texas, 35-34. This marks the first time the Longhorns have lost the rebounding battle since March 2, 2024, against BYU.
The Longhorns scored 58 points in the first half, the most by a JMU opponent in program history.
Thirty-one points are the most points scored by a JMU opponent in any quarter this season, surpassing the previous high of 28 points in the second quarter against Northern Arizona on Nov. 28.
Scott's 22-point performance marked her third outing of 20-plus points in the 2024-25 campaign.