Women’s Hoops Bringing New Tempo to Season-Opener North Texas Hosts San Francisco Friday at 5 p.m. from the Super Pit

[Harry]

DENTON - The North Texas women’s basketball team opens regular season play at 5 p.m. on Friday night from the Super Pit as San Francisco makes the trip to Denton.

The game will be a double-header with the men’s team, who takes on Jarvis Christian at 7:30.

Friday’s matchup comes after last week’s exhibition win against D-II foe and crosstown rival Texas Woman’s on Saturday, a contest in which the Mean Green put up 69 points in the newly-formatted four quarters of play.

While there’s only so much that you can take from such a win, head coach Jalie Mitchell says that point total is indicative of the play you can expect from North Texas, both on Friday and in the seasons to come.

“I think you’ll see an exciting style of play against San Francisco,” Mitchell said. “After our exhibition, I heard a lot about how people were pleased with our fast pace. That’s something we’ll look to continue.”

The team’s point total versus TWU was a 33 percent increase from the lowly 51.8 points per game that North Texas averaged last season. Additionally, the team put up 25 fourth-quarter points. Defensively, the Mean Green gave up no three-pointers while holding TWU to 36.7 percent shooting.

However, the Dons will be no easy task for North Texas. Last season, a 19-14 USF team lost in the West Coach Conference championship game and advanced to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament while averaging almost 70 points per contest. Preseason All-WCC player Taylor Proctor visits the Pit after averaging 15.5 points in 2015-16.

Even in facing a tough opponent, North Texas remains steadfast in its goal of finding consistency in itself.

“We’ve had closed scrimmages and an exhibition, but we’re approaching every game the same way,” Mitchell added. “We’re competing. There’s no way that we can let up, no way that you take any game more or less seriously. We’re working on us.”

So what can you expect to see when the Mean Green take the court against San Francisco on Friday?

If Mitchell has her way, the answer will be fast-paced but controlled offense that can carry over the team’s recent winning ways.

“We’re here to compete. Hopefully you’ll see a better North Texas team than you saw a week ago.”
 

 

Recap

About the Opponent: San Francisco
• Friday’s season opener will be the third all-time meeting between the two teams. The series record is tied at 1-1, but it was San Francisco that won the last meeting on December 17, 2014. Teadra Jones was the top scorer for North Texas with 12 points.
• Both teams open up the regular season in Friday’s game.
• The Dons were picked to finish fifth out of 10 teams in the West Coast Conference in 2015-16. Gonzaga was the favorite to win the league.

[FirefightnRick]

 

 

Rick

[FirefightnRick]

@MeanGreenWBB: NT falls, 69-61, despite a career-high 17 points for Ellison. A 21-11 stretch in the 4th was the difference for USF. https://t.co/cM6CwjUmMv

 

 

Rick