DRC...Lady Eagles lose 5 of last 6th games

OldTimer · January 1, 2003

Lady Eagles lose fifth of past six

12/31/2002

By TIM MACMAHON / Denton Record-Chronicle

WACO - North Texas coach Tina Slinker is satisfied with her young team. But there's nothing more frustrating than the Lady Eagles' tendency to have long stretches where they can't buy a bucket.

The latest examples occurred during Monday night's 83-49 loss to Baylor at the Ferrell Center, where the Lady Bears are undefeated in 21 regular-season nonconference games under coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson.

After jumping out to an early lead, the Lady Eagles (4-5) went 10:07 without scoring from the floor. The Lady Bears (11-1), who have won seven straight games, took advantage by outscoring UNT by a 17-5 margin during that span to go ahead for good.

UNT had a drought from the field of 4:54 in the second half, and Baylor took advantage by reeling off 17 unanswered points to turn a comfortable lead into a rout. That came on the heels of a scoreless stretch of 4:01, during which the Lady Bears went on a 15-2 run.

"We don't know where to go when things aren't going well," UNT coach Tina Slinker said.

The loss was the fifth for UNT in the past six games. The Lady Eagles failed to score 50 points in three of those games after doing so just three times in the last four seasons.

The Lady Eagles shot just 26 percent from the floor for the game. UNT wasn't much better from the free-throw line (48 percent) and added to their offensive woes by committing 25 turnovers.

"We were very aggressive on the defensive end," Mulkey-Robertson said. "We didn't let up."

Forward Angel Lewis led UNT with 16 points. Point guard Erika Bobo had 12 points, seven rebounds, six steals and five assists, but she also had eight turnovers.

"When we can't score, we've got to be more disciplined," Slinker said. "That's what I've been struggling with. We've got a point guard that's better when you let her go, but we've got to find a balance."

Forward Sophia Young scored 17 points off the bench to lead four Baylor players in double figures. Point guard Jessika Stratton added 15 points and had game highs of nine rebounds and six assists.

TIM MACMAHON can be reached at 940-381-9572. His e-mail address is tmacmahon@dentonrc.com.