Justice Carlton scores 30 off the bench, No. 5 Texas routs Butler 94-59

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Justice Carlton scored 30 points off the bench on 12-of-15 shooting as fifth-ranked Texas beat Butler 94-59 in the Gulf Coast Showcase semifinals on Saturday night.

Rori Harmon added 13 points and Kyla Oldacre, Aaliyah Moore and Bryanna Preston had 10 each for the Longhorns.

Caroline Strande led Butler with 14 points, and Riley Makalusky and Lily Carmody added 11 each.

Texas (6-0) took a quick 7-0 lead, but Butler (6-2) hung around until a 16-4 run by the Longhorns created distance the Bulldogs couldn’t recover from.

Texas scored 39 points off a whopping 29 Butler turnovers, outscored the Bulldogs 54-34 in the paint and had a 41-22 edge in total rebounds.

Takeaways

Butler: The Bulldogs attacked Texas regularly and it led to a number of layups, but Butler just didn’t have enough of them.

Texas: The Longhorns’ bench outscored Butler 59-29 and was exemplified by the freshman Carlton, who had 18 of her 30 points in the second half.

Key moment

Even though Madison Booker had just three points, she didn’t lack hustle and ferocity. When Butler’s Madi Gewirtz picked up a loose ball and appeared ready to go in for a layup, Booker charged and went up just at the right time to swat the ball away.

Key stat

Butler lost by 35 despite making half of its shots. The problem was that the Bulldogs only took 42 shots compared to Texas’ 67.

Up next

Texas will play former Big 12 rival No. 12 West Virginia in the Gulf Coast Showcase championship game Sunday, and Butler will face Boise State in the third-place game.

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