DRC NT women want to build on share of div lead

[OldTimer]

Women's basketball: UNT wants to build on share of division lead

Lady Eagles say Arkansas State will be tough to handle

08:26 AM CST on Saturday, January 24, 2004

By Chuck Cox / Staff Writer

After a wild night in the Sun Belt Thursday the North Texas Lady Eagles find themselves enjoying the view from the top of the conference’s West Division standings.

UNT’s 63-41 trouncing of Arkansas-Little Rock, coupled with Middle Tennessee’s stunning 56-55 victory over South Alabama, moved the Lady Eagles into a tie with the Jaguars at 3-1. South Alabama had won 14 straight games.

DRC/Hiroyuki Komae

North Texas forward Kim Blanton, left, holds onto a loose ball against Arkansas-Little Rock forward Katrina Crawford, right, as UALR guard Jocelyn Love watches during Thursday’s game at the Super Pit. The Lady Eagles host Arkansas State today at 7 p.m.

The Lady Eagles (7-9) will look to maintain their lofty standing and win their fourth straight game in the process when East Division leader Arkansas State (11-5, 3-1) rolls into the Super Pit tonight for a 7 p.m. tip.

"They’re going to be tough," said UNT senior forward Kim Blanton. "But everybody’s more comfortable at home and it’s where we like to play. We need to get our tradition back at home."

Against UALR, the Lady Eagles built a double-digit lead by taking advantage of some poor shooting by the Trojans (15 percent) from the field in the first half. Once the Lady Eagles established the big lead, they continued to use solid defense to make sure the big lead did not vanish. UNT forced 21 turnovers and did not allow UALR to make a shot from beyond the 3-point line on 13 attempts. The Trojans have 67 treys this season.

And with the exception of a poor first half of shooting by UNT (25 percent), Lady Eagles head coach Tina Slinker felt like her team played a solid game and continued to build momentum and confidence with the win.

Additionally, UNT’s current winning streak, which includes two conference road wins, is a big step for a team that took its lumps during a seven-game losing streak earlier this season that included games against Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, SMU and TCU, three of which are nationally-ranked.

"I don’t think they really understand that until you get into a situation where it’s paying off," Slinker said. "I’m glad they see that, too. You look back to Binghamton and SMU — we lost by two and four. You’d rather not lose any of them, but if you’re going to lose you want it to pay off now, and it has."

The proof is in the pudding for UNT, which won just six conference games all of last season.

"That’s what those games are for — playing those top 25 teams," said Blanton, who is averaging 11.5 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game. "All of those games are tough. In most of those games we hung in there the best we could. They really prepared us for the Sun Belt. We should dominate."

As winning tends to do, the last three victories have started to bring the Lady Eagles together as a team.

"We’re starting to believe in each other a lot more," said UNT forward Jamie Armstrong, who led all scorers with 16 points Thursday night and is averaging 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds. "We’re starting to pull together. I think the best thing and the most important part is we’re believing in our coaches and our teammates a lot more."

UNT might also be catching ASU at the right time. The Lady Indians come into the game after suffering their first conference loss of the season — a 66-63 setback at Denver Thursday. The Lady Eagles started their win streak with a victory at Denver.

"It’s always good to be at home because you have the crowd behind you and it gets you more momentum," Armstrong said. "They [ASU] are a tough team."

Junior Jill Medlock leads the Lady Eagles in scoring with 11.9 points per game and assists with 3.0 per contest.

Amber Abraham leads the Lady Indians in scoring with 12.3 points per game, followed by Catriece Webster with 10.9 and Rudy Sims with 10.7. ASU has two players averaging more than six rebounds per game — Vanessa Schrock with 6.9 and Adrianne Davie with 6.3.

UNT will embark on a three-game road swing to New Orleans, South Alabama, and Louisiana-Lafayette following Saturday’s game.

CHUCK COX can be reached at 940-566-6872.

This text is invisible on the page, but this text is affected by the in