Box Score - North Texas 67, South Alabama 47 (.pdf)

DENTON, Texas – The University of South Alabama women’s basketball team suffered one of its coldest offensive performances Saturday as the Lady Jags dropped a 67-47 Sun Belt Conference decision to West Division leader North Texas at the Super Pit.

USA (10-7, 3-5 SBC) struggled from both inside and outside the arc as the Jaguars were just 16-of-63 from the floor for 25.4 percent and 4-for-28 from the three-point line for 14.3 percent.   

“North Texas is really good offensively and they have a lot of weapons,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said.  “They They run really good stuff and they are on a role right now.  They are playing with a lot of confidence.  Offensively right now, or team just isn’t playing with a lot of confidence right now and you can tell that by the shooting percentages.  We had some really good looks on the perimeter.  We’re just not making them.  In a game like this when you are suffering some offensive woes, it sometimes takes away your energy at the defensive end.  As well as North Texas is playing offensively right now, you can’t have any energy sucked out of you in your defensive performance.  Tonight, it was.

“I will say that our players did fight back the last five minutes of the game and we didn’t quit.  We kept fighting, so that’s a positive.”

South Alabama will now return home for the first of three-straight games when the Lady Jags welcome Louisiana-Monroe to the Mitchell Center on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.  UNT picked up its fourth-straight victory and improved to 6-10 on the season and 5-2 in the conference with the 20-point victory.  The margin of victory is the largest for the Mean Green in the series since a 87-53 win in Denton back during the 2007-08 season.

Brianna Wright registered a new career-high with 13 points off the bench.  The freshman post player was 5-of-8 from the floor and pulled down eight rebounds.  Mary Nixon added nine points and Mansa El posted eight for USA.  Veronica Cherizol led the Jags with nine rebounds.  

The Mean Green placed a pair of players in double figures as BreAnna Dawkins had 16 and Laura McCoy had 15.  Dawkins was 6-of-14 from the field and 3-of-4 from the arc. Coming into the game, Dawkins was shooting just 4-of-28 from the three-point line (.143).  McCoy did most of her damage in the first half, posting 13 of her 15 points in the opening half.  The senior guard was nearly perfect, knocking down six of her eight shot attempts.

Sara Stanley, Alexis Hyder and Loryn Goodwin finished just outside of double figures with nine points.

UNT was 25-for-58 from the field for 43.1 percent and connected on nine of its 15 long-range attempts for 60.0 percent.  The nine three pointers were the most by a USA opponent this season.  

Coming into the week, the Lady Jags entered play leading both the Sun Belt Conference and the NCAA in three-point field-goal defense, but over the last two games, USA has allowed its two opponents to shoot 16-for-30 from the arc. Through the first 15 games, Jaguar foes had connected on just 40 treys.

As it did for much of the first half and the game, South Alabama struggled early on, hitting just one of its first eight attempts from the floor, including a 0-for-6 stretch to begin the game.  North Texas was just the opposite as the Mean Green hit four of their first six attempts and jumped out to a 9-2 advantage less than four minutes into the contest.  UNT’s attack was balanced in the early going as four different players recorded a field goal during the run.

USA briefly gained a little bit of momentum as the Lady Jags reeled off eight unanswered points and trimmed the deficit to one (9-8) on a 16-foot pull up jumper by Meghan Dunn at the 13:22 mark.  

North Texas quickly answered back though as it rattled off a 13-2 run over the next seven-and-a-half minutes to extend the Mean Green lead out to 22-10.  McCoy – who led all scorers with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first half – began the scoring when the senior came up with an offensive rebound under the basket and laid the ball back off the glass with 12 minutes, 41 seconds on the clock.  After a three-pointer from Hannah Christian on UNT’s next possession, McCoy came up big again as she stole the ball near the mid-court stripe and went all the way to the basket for another layup.  McCoy later capped off the run and stretched the lead out to 12 with a trey at the 5:41 mark.

The Lady Jags had several good looks from the outside in the first half, but USA was unable to connect, missing its first 10 shots from the three-point line.  Nixon finally knocked down the Jaguars’ first shot from long distance, hitting one from three right side 15 minutes into the game.

McCoy later sent the Mean Green into the locker room with a 35-17 advantage when she knocked down her second three-pointer of the half, this one just before the halftime buzzer.

South Alabama struggled to get anything going during the first 20 minutes of play as the Lady Jags were just 6-for-31 for 19 percent and 2-of-17 from beyond the three-point line for 11.8 percent.  North Texas was 14 for 31 from the field for 45.2 percent and 5-of-10 from long range.

Any comeback hopes for the Jaguars at the start of the second half were quickly squelched as the offensive struggles continued for USA.  North Texas again took advantage and began the final frame with a 14-3 spurt over the first four-and-a-half minutes.  Hyder ignited the scoring for UNT with a three-pointer of her own and the freshman later capped things off with a pair of free throws following a trey from Goodwin – another Mean Green freshman – with 15:37 to go, extending the lead out to 49-20.

With USA’s offensive struggles continuing, UNT eventually stretched its lead out to as much as 36 (65-29) with under eight minutes to play.

To their credit, the Lady Jags continued to fight through the adversity and eventually trimmed the deficit to as little as 65-47 with under a minute to play after a pair of free throws from El, but the hole was too big to dig out of.  El’s free throws capped off an 18-0 run for South Alabama over a seven minute stretch.

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:  With the loss, South Alabama falls to 7-14 in the all-time series and 2-9 in Denton.  The 20-point victory is the largest for North Texas in the series since the Mean Green’s 34-point (87-53) win in Denton back during the 2007-08 season.  The 36-point second-half deficit to UNT was the largest for the Lady Jags this season.  The nine three pointers by North Texas were the most by a USA opponent this season.  Coming into the week, the Lady Jags entered play leading both the Sun Belt Conference and the NCAA in three-point field-goal defense, but over the last two games, USA has allowed its two opponents to shoot 16-for-30 from the arc. Through the first 15 games, the Jaguars had allowed just 40 treys.

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