Game 17 - North Texas Game Notes (.pdf)

DENTON, Texas – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team will close out its two-game road swing when it travels to take on Sun Belt West Division leader North Texas on Saturday.  Tip-off versus the Mean Green is set for 5 p.m. at the Super Pit.

Live stats and live web streaming for the game versus the Mean Green can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com.  

South Alabama (10-6, 3-4 SBC) comes into this weekend’s contest versus the Mean Green after picking up a 53-43 road victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday night.

USA used a 15-0 second-half run to rally back and pick up the 10-point win over the Ragin’ Cajuns.  Senior guard Mansa El was instrumental in the comeback as she recorded a season-high 20 points, 15 of which coming in the second half, including nine during the pivotal run.  El was 6-of-13 from the field and hit four treys and tied a career-high with nine rebounds.  

With her performance, El now sits just outside of double figures, averaging 9.4 points per game - second-best on the club.  El – who played her freshman season at UNT – will be returning to her former home for the first time since suiting up for the Mean Green,

Fellow senior Mary Nixon continues to pace the club in that category with 12 ppg - 14th in the Sun Belt.  Nixon is shooting 40.2 percent from the field and leads the club behind the arc, knocking down 37.5 percent of her attempts - eighth-best in the league.

South Alabama continues to rank among the conference leaders in several categories.  USA leads the SBC in scoring defense (53.1) and three-pointers per game (6.6), while ranking second in field-goal percentage defense (38.1), three-point field-goal percentage defense (.233), rebounding defense (35.9) and rebounding margin (+4.1).  The Lady Jags also rank among the national leaders in three-point defense.  

After holding ULL to just 43 points, USA has now held six opponents below the 50 point mark this season and four of its last five conference foes.

Junior forward Ronneka Robertson continues to have an outstanding season on the glass.  She is currently tied with Florida Atlantic’s Chenise Miller for seventh in the league with 7.5 rebounds per game.  Robertson set a new career-best in that category versus the Ragin’ Cajuns as the Louisiana native pulled down a career-best 13.  Robertson has now grabbed six or more boards in 12 of her last 15 games.

North Texas (5-10, 4-2 SBC) enters the game versus USA riding a three-game win streak.  The Mean Green also picked up a big road win on Wednesday, knocking off UALR 68-65 in Little Rock to take control of the West Division lead.

Laura McCoy led the offensive attack for UNT as she had a career-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting and hit six three-pointers.  Led by McCoy, North Texas finished 10-of-18 at the three-point line.

The Mean Green trailed by five with five minutes remaining, but erupted for a 14-0 run over the next three minutes to retake the lead for good.  UNT - one of the second-best free-throw shooting team in the Sun Belt (.744) - iced the game at the charity stripe in the waning moments.

North Texas has used a balanced offensive attack this season as four players are averaging double digits - Alexis Hyder (13.2), Loryn Goodwn (10.9), BreAnna Dawkins (10.4) and McCoy (10.2) - and Sara Stanley sits just outside of double figures with 9.5 ppg.  All five rank among the league leaders in that category.

“At this stage of the season, North Texas is just red-hot offensively,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “In women’s basketball, 40 percent is an average field-goal percentage, but as a team, they are shooting close to 46 in league play, which is an insanely high number for a team.  Their balance shows as they have four players averaging double figures and a fifth close to it.  They are really clicking on all cylinders on the offensive end of the floor. Obviously, they have figured out coach (Mike) Peterson’s offensive system to the point that they are functioning at a high level running it.  We’ve got a major task ahead of us and we’ll see if we are up to it.”

Hyder - a contender for the SBC Freshman of the Year award - is 10th in scoring, tied for fourth in rebounding (7.7) and field-goal percentage (.524) and ninth in blocks (1.0)

As a team, North Texas is third in the SBC in steals, averaging 12.0 a game.  Goodwin leads the conference individually in that same category with 3.6 per game, while McCoy (2.3 - t-seventh) and Hyder (t-ninth - 2.2) are also among the leaders.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

NOTES: The meeting between South Alabama and North Texas will be the 21st in the all-time series.  UNT holds a 13-7 advantage in the series, including an 8-2 mark against the Lady Jags in Denton.  Under South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri, the Mean Green is 12-7 against USA and 7-2 in Denton.  South Alabama has won five of the last seven meetings in the series, including last season’s 69-60 victory in Mobile.  The meeting between Pietri and North Texas head coach Mike Peterson will be the first between the two coaches.  

-- USA --