Jayda Clark Scores 24 as Texas Beats South Dakota State 93-63, With Madison Booker Leaving With an Injury

AUSTIN — Texas beat South Dakota State 93-63 at the Moody Center on Wednesday night to start the season 3-0, and the margin came from the player who stepped in when the Longhorns' star went down. Jayda Clark, the 21-year-old Australian Texas signed from a professional league in her home country in August, scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting with five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Madison Booker scored nine points in 19 minutes before she left near the end of the first half after an awkward fall, appearing to injure her back, and she did not return. Head coach Vic Schaefer said after the game that Booker's status was to be determined, that he thinks she will be OK, and that the team would know more after she is reassessed. Booker had entered the night averaging 27.0 points, 5.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals through the first two games.

Clark scored 17 of her 24 in the second half, the 20 minutes Texas played without Booker — a half Texas won by more than it won the first. 'When she went down, the first thing through my mind was, let's step it up,' Clark said. Every Texas starter other than Booker reached double figures, Zya Vann added 14, and the Longhorns owned the game's edges: 13-0 in fast-break points, 46-28 in points in the paint, 21 turnovers forced against only five committed, against a South Dakota State team that was an 11 seed in last season's NCAA Tournament.

Schaefer said he had warned this was coming, telling reporters Tuesday that Clark would light up a defense that was not careful with her after she averaged 17 points and seven rebounds in her professional league. Texas is back at the Moody Center on Saturday, when Tarleton State visits for a noon CT tipoff; Booker's availability for that game had not been announced when this story was filed.