North Texas falls short to the University of Texas-Arlington
The women’s basketball team faced off against the University of Texas-Arlington in Denton at the Super Pit on Saturday.
The team fell to UTA (3-1) in overtime 74-75 after junior guard Quincy Noble fouled the Maverick’s Claire Chastain on a last-second shot in overtime.
The play was initially ruled a block by Noble but upon further review by the referee crew, they ruled that Noble fouled Chastain in the act of shooting. As a result, Chastain was awarded two free throws and hit one of them to put UTA up by one point with 0.7 seconds left.
“I was just trying to get a stop,” Noble said. “I just got a little anxious, and I went from my person to the next, and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, she’s got a shot going, I gotta hurry up and get over there.’ What the refs saw [is] I fouled her, so maybe I just went a little too hard at her [and] I should’ve just kept my hand up there and let it fall if it fell.”
Noble ended the game with 18 points and seven rebounds. However, the Mean Green (2-2) was inefficient shooting the basketball, especially from the three-point range, shooting 26.1 percent.
One player who did not struggle to shoot the ball was senior guard Aly Gamez, who was 6-13 from the floor and 3-7 from three and finished the game with 17 points. Gamez took over scoring in the second half and credited her teammates for helping her score.
“I think our bigs set good screens for us,” Gamez said. “I think just reading [the defense] we knew that they switched one through five, so just being able to attack their big and trying to get to the basket is what really worked for me.”
While the team struggled to shoot the ball, head coach Jalie Mitchell is proud of how her team fought and improved throughout the game.
“There were some areas that we wanted to improve in that I thought we did improve on,” Mitchell said. “Taking care of the ball, free-throw shooting [and] we did win the rebounding category.”
Despite her initial compliments of the team, Mitchell emphasized that they still have work to do.
“I will say, I wanted to be better defensively,” Mitchell said. “I thought when they needed a bucket they were able to go get one, whether it was the first shot or a second chance opportunity.”
The Mean Green’s next game will see them face off against Montana State University on Friday in San Luis Obispo, CA at 4:30 p.m.
Featured Image: Junior guard Jazion Jackson attempts to drive past a University of Texas at Arlington defender on Nov. 20, 2021. Photo by Zachary Thomas
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