Texas blasts by Gonzaga to advance into Sunday's Elite 8 against North Carolina State

PORTLAND, Ore. — Aaliyah Moore had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Shaylee Gonzales added 15 points as No. 1-seeded Texas rolled to a 69-47 win over No. 4 Gonzaga at the Moda Center on Friday night.

Texas, the top seed in the Portland 4 region of the NCAA Tournament, advances into the Elite Eight round for the third time in head coach Vic Schaefer's four years. The Longhorns, however, last reached the Final Four in 2003.

In order to make it to Cleveland this time around, Texas (33-4) will need to beat North Carolina State (30-6) on Sunday. The third-seeded Wolfpack recorded a 77-67 win over No. 2 Stanford in Friday night's first game. Texas is 6-2 all time against North Carolina State.

Despite All-American guard Madison Booker playing less than eight minutes in the first half and Taylor Jones sitting on the bench the entire game with an undisclosed injury, Texas built a 37-18 halftime lead. Behind Holle's 10 points — which were more than she had scored in her last three games combined — the Longhorns headed into the intermission with that 19-point edge. Gonzales added eight points in the first half and Moore contributed nine points, four rebounds and three assists.

Gonzaga never got closer than 12 points in the second half.

In what was her second straight double-double performance in the NCAA Tournament, Moore also distributed six assists. A BYU transfer who averaged 16.1 points over nine previous games against Gonzaga, Gonzales knocked down six of the 11 shots she took against her former West Coast Conference rival.

Gonzaga (32-4) was led by senior forward Yvonne Ejim's 14 points. A No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, the Zags ended their season with a school-record amount of wins.