DRC article today on Women beating Fla Int.

[OldTimer]

True Britt

Junior has career-high 20 points in upset of Florida International

01/05/2003

By Chuck Cox / Staff Writer

Florida International doesn’t have North Texas to kick around any more.

UNT avenged last year’s Sun Belt Conference championship game loss by throttling FIU, 64-47, Saturday afternoon in the conference opener at the Super Pit.

DRC/Hiroyuki Komae

North Texas forward Emily Britt, right, goes up for a jump shot against Florida International center Silvia Mesa (21) in the first half of the Lady Eagles' 64-47 win at the Super Pit Saturday.

The victory snapped a four-game losing streak and was UNT’s first win over FIU in four tries. The loss ended an 11-game winning streak against Sun Belt opponents by the Golden Panthers.

"It’s great when the kids do buy into what you tell them as far as the preseason," UNT coach Tina Slinker said. "I told them I felt like we were just about to come together. I felt like Florida International was coming in a little shaky right now. One of their kids was sick [Anita Heller] and they had come off a couple of not really good games, and we took advantage of it."

Emily Britt, a University of Oklahoma transfer, led the Lady Eagles (5-6, 1-0) in scoring with a career-high 20 points. She had 14 of those points during a huge 25-7 run by UNT that gave it an 11-point lead early in the second half. At one point, Britt scored 10 straight points in the game.

"It was nice to get my confidence back and my game back and everything like that," Britt said. "I think we’re sending the message to the rest of the conference that we didn’t have a real good preseason, but you better watch out for us."

Britt benefited greatly from teammate Heather Trout, who fed the ball to her in the low post on several occasions on her way to a career-high nine assists. Britt scored 10 of her points in the paint.

"That was fun," said Trout, who also had a career-high five steals. "I like passing her [britt] the ball when she’s hitting like that."

Before UNT went on its huge run, it trailed by nine points with 8:15 to go in the first half. But all of the sudden, UNT couldn’t miss and ended up scoring the final 12 points of the first half and the first four of the second.

FIU was able to cut the lead to eight with 15:29 to go in the game on a 3-point play by Ivelina Vrancheva, but UNT answered with a 15-4 run that increased the lead to 19 points and put the game out of reach.

"I thought it all started on the defensive end," Slinker said. "I thought the team defense we had took them out of what they were trying to do."

UNT played stellar defense, forcing 22 turnovers and limiting FIU to 28 percent (16-of-58) shooting from the field. On the flipside, UNT shot 42 percent (27-of-65) for the game.

Vilma Grismanauskaite finished with a season-high 11 points for UNT, while Erika Bobo, who hurt her wrist against LSU Thursday night, finished with 10.

Vrancheva led FIU (9-5, 0-1) in virtually every category with 15 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. FIU, which has lost two straight, was without Heller, who was sick, and guard Deniz Boz, who tore her anterior curciate ligament earlier this season.

UNT held Cormisha Cotton, who came into the game averaging 12 points per contest, scoreless.

Briefly...

Both UNT and FIU had 41 rebounds. The Golden Panthers have been outrebounded only once this season against Duke, while the Lady Eagles have outrebounded seven of their opponents. ... FIU’s 28 percent shooting was the lowest by an opponent for UNT this season.

CHUCK COX can be reached at 940-381-9587.

Denton Record-Chronicle/Hiroyuki Komae

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