DRC womens BB enters road trip with momentum

OldTimer · November 29, 2006

Women's basketball: Mean Green enters road trip with momentum

12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 29, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas head coach Tina Slinker chose to look at the bright side after a win over Prairie View A&M on Tuesday.

UNT didn’t play its prettiest game of the season, didn’t shoot the ball as well as it did in a win over Loyola-Chicago earlier in the week or play as well defensively. What the Mean Green did was make a few key plays down the stretch to pull out a 77-74 win at the Super Pit and complete a sweep of a two-game homestand that served as a warm-up for a brutal nine-game road trip.

UNT (2-3) won’t play a home game again until Jan. 9.

“The good news is that we made the plays down the stretch to win,” Slinker said. “We hope that we can build on that. We made a lot of big plays on the offensive end.”

Freshman guard Brittney James made several of those plays in the second half, scoring six of her 11 points in the final 9:40.

The biggest of those plays came with 56 seconds left and the Mean Green leading 73-70. PVAMU (2-1) went to a full-court press, which James took advantage of by breaking deep. Amber Jackson hit James in stride for a layup that put the Mean Green up five.

PVAMU guard Shavonne Smith scored four of her game-high 30 points in the final minute, including two on a layup with 13 seconds left to cut the Mean Green’s lead to 76-74. But UNT guard Amanda Quattrocchi hit a free throw with 13 seconds left and PVAMU failed to get an attempt at a game-tying 3-point shot off before the buzzer.

The Mean Green knew coming in that it would be in for a tough game against PVAMU, which is coached by former WNBA standout Cynthia Cooper-Dyke.

“Coach definitely prepared us for this to be a tough one,” Jackson said. “We were surprised at how well they shot the ball in the first half. We knew that they were scrappy and were never going to give up.”

UNT struggled to contain Smith but countered with a balanced scoring attack that featured three players in double figures. Sophomore guard Sanetra Jackson, who suffered a hip flexor injury late in the second half, led UNT with 19 points. Amber Jackson added 15 and Erica Howard had 10.

The Mean Green needed all the firepower it could get in a game that was close down the wire. Smith tied the score for the final time with 6:10 left at 62-62 on a pair of free throws.

UNT responded by jumping out to what appeared to be a comfortable 73-67 lead with 1:26 left, but couldn’t stop Smith in the final minutes.

“We knew she was their best player,” Slinker said. “The mistake we made was letting her get into a flow.”

UNT overcame that mistake in what could be a key win heading into its road trip that will include tough games at UTEP and SMU, not to mention the beginning of Sun Belt Conference play.

UNT’s first four league games will come during the trip, including a game against traditional power Western Kentucky. UNT opened the season with three straight losses, but now has some momentum after consecutive wins.

“It was critical to win these two games at home before going out on the road,” Slinker said. “The lucky thing is that we can’t go on the road to UTEP and play like this and win. Maybe we can learn a valuable lesson by doing what we did down the stretch tonight.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

North Texas 77, Prairie View A&M 74

PRAIRIE VIEW A&M (2-1) – Stokes 3-6 4-8 10, Werema 5-10 2-2 12, Marshall 1-4 0-0 3, S. Smith 10-21 5-7 30, Thomas 3-9 1-2 8, A. Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Johns 2-9 2-2 6, Sauls 1-3 1-1 3, Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Holman 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-65 15-22 74.

UNT (2-3) – A. Jackson 7-14 1-2 15, Sanders 4-7 1-2 9, Lee 1-5 0-0 2, S. Jackson 6-11 5-5 19, Wali 1-2 0-0 2, Howard 3-6 4-7 10, Hall 1-9 1-4 3, Quattrocchi 1-4 1-2 3, Goodman 0-0 0-0 0, Koubiteb 1-1 1-2 3, James 3-6 4-4 11. Totals 28-65 18-28 77.

Halftime – UNT 35-31. 3-point goals – PVAMU 7-21 (Marshall 1-2, S. Smith 5-11, Thomas 1-3 Johns 0-5), UNT 3-13 (Lee 0-2, S. Jackson 2-5, Quattrocchi 0-3, James 1-3). Fouled out – Werema, Marshall, Sanders. Rebounds – PVAMU 37 (Stokes 8), UNT 50 (Sanders 15). Assists – PVAMU 7 (Werema 3), UNT 13 (Lee 3). Total fouls – PVAMU 21, UNT 24. A – 398.