Women's basketball: UNT women knock off NMSU

[GreenBat]

Women's basketball: UNT women knock off NMSU, 63-55

09:09 AM CST on Sunday, January 9, 2005

By Jake Floyd / For the Denton Record-Chronicle

North Texas did not have much reason to be confident coming into its Sun Belt opener against New Mexico State Saturday night at the Super Pit.

The Mean Green had lost three-straight games, whereas the Aggies were coming off an upset win over No. 22 Houston. UNT was also playing without starting forward Kelsie Edwards who will miss three weeks with a stress fracture in her right leg.

None of that seemed to matter as the Mean Green jumped out a 19-point lead in the first half and held off a late rally for a 63-55 win. It was the eighth-straight time UNT has beaten the Aggies in Denton.

"This is a huge win because they came in with a lot of confidence after beating Houston and we were at home," UNT head coach Tina Slinker said. "Now the early scheduling can start to pay off for us with three at home."

UNT got a career-high 18 points from junior Mian Williams to begin a three-game homestand just the way it wanted.

"It feels really good to get this win," Williams said. "We want to win every game at the Pit. The atmosphere was good tonight, and we were real comfortable."

The Mean Green had no trouble adjusting to the zone NMSU threw at them to begin the game. UNT hit four 3-pointers in the first six minutes — three from Williams — and held a 17-4 lead at that point.

That lead was stretched to as many as 19 points with 4:14 left in the first half but the Aggies closed the half on a 9-4 run. NMSU went on a 10-0 run early in the second half and had the lead trimmed to five with 1:42 to play.

"That’s just how the game went," said Mia Ajekwu, who scored 17 points with a career-high three 3-pointers. "We came out strong but things just happened and we had to adjust."

The Mean Green adjusted after going 3-for-12 from the free throw line in the first 39 minutes of the game, but finished the final minute making 10 straight from the charity stripe.

"I was happy that I put a freshman [Amanda Quattrocchi] in and she hit two free throws, then I put another [Erica Howard] in and she made two," Slinker said. "We made them when they counted."

Slinker called on another freshman in Talicia Sanders to step into the starting lineup and was not disappointed. Sanders finished with only three points but pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

UNT came into the game leading the conference in offensive rebounding but was outdone by the Aggies, who got 15 offensive boards and 15 second-chance points.

"We were focused all week on defensive rebounding," Slinker said. "Some of those come because [NMSU] only shoots 33 percent from the floor, but we have to do a better job blocking out."

"We tried to hedge out and keep them from shooting threes, but sometimes we forget when we do that we still have to get back and rebound."

The Mean Green were terrorized on the boards by Sherell Neal who finished with 15 rebounds and 16 points. However, 29 turnovers by the Aggies helped in negating the rebounding advantage.

UNT tied a season-high with eight made three pointers but did turn the ball over more than 20 times for the 12th-straight game.

North Texas 63, New Mexico State 55

New Mexico State (5-8, 0-1) – Ford 0-0 0-0 0, Neal 6-11 4-6 16, Kennedy 3-7 0-0 6, Bribiescas 4-14 2-5 12, Baker 0-4 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Russell-Nava 6-11 0-0 16, Wald 0-0 0-0 0, Crainer 0-2 0-0 0, Clift 2-5 1-2 5, Beard 0-1 0-0 0, Denning 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 21-55 7-13 55.

North Texas (6-7, 1-0) – Sanders 1-4 1-4 3, Ajekwu 7-11 0-1 17, Bobo 5-12 0-2 11, Mireles 0-3 2-3 2, Williams 6-11 2-2 18, Howard 1-6 2-3 4, Quattrocchi 0-2 2-2 2, Wali 0-2 3-4 3, Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Klat 1-1 1-1 3. Totals – 21-53 13-22 63.

Halftime: North Texas 63, New Mexico State 55. Rebounds: NMSU 42 (Neal 15), UNT 32 (Sanders 8). Three pointers: NMSU 6-16 (Bribiescas 2-4, Russell-Nava 4-8), UNT 8-17 (Williams 4-6, Ajekwu 3-3, Bobo 1-4). Turnovers: NMSU 29, UNT 22. Attendance: 405.