Mean Green falls to FAU after first half lead
Tim Cato / Senior Staff Writer
The Mean Green women’s basketball team dropped its fifth-straight home game on Wednesday, losing to Florida Atlantic University 73-60 despite a first half lead.
February has not been kind to UNT (10-17, 9-9), with the team losing four of its last six games. It raced out to a 14-1 lead in the opening minutes but let FAU (12-14, 9-9) climb back into the game in the second half.
“We didn’t play hard,” head coach Mike Petersen said. “You can’t play well if you don’t play hard. We played really hard the first half but you and I could have stood out there and made threes against us, there was nobody guarding them [the FAU shooters].”
The three-point line played a crucial role in FAU’s comeback. After making three of 16 three-point attempts in the first half, the Owls caught fire and knocked down eight of 13 in the second frame.
Meanwhile, the Mean Green went cold from beyond the line and knocked down two of 13 shots.
“They were just making more shots,” freshman guard Loryn Goodwin said. “We played the same defense in the first half and they didn’t make their shots. Second half, we came out with the same defense and they’re making everything. That’s just us. We have to be more focused.”
Freshman forward Alexis Hyder was a bright spot for UNT in the loss, notching her eighth double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Although she and Goodwin are both one year out of high school, she didn’t think the second half swoon was the fault of the team’s inexperience.
“Basketball is basketball,” she said. “The rules are still the same, what it takes to win is still the same. Just play. I don’t think the experience is it. You do what your coach asks, you’re prepared and you come out with the victory if you follow through with what you prepared.”
South Alabama
In the second-to-last game of the regular season, the Mean Green head to Mobile, Ala. to face the University of South Alabama (14-12, 7-10) on Saturday.
It’s been over a month since the teams met on Jan. 12, a game which UNT won by 20. USA is ranked fourth in the Sun Belt West Division, but still has a chance to surpass the third-ranked Mean Green.
The tip-off is at 5:05 p.m. for the final road game of the season before UNT returns home to play its last game against Arkansas State University.
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