North Texas Daily

North Texas women’s basketball came away 76-55 against University of Southern Mississippi Friday evening courtesy of a first-quarter where the Mean Green scored 29 points. Sophomore guard Quincy Noble led the offense with 21 points, her second 20 point or more performance in a row and her fourth through the first nine conference games.

The Mean Green (10-4, 7-2 Conference USA) defense held Southern Miss (6-7, 4-7 C-USA) to 30.3 percent shooting overall (20-for-66 field goal attempts), 11 percent in 3-point shooting (2-for-18 3-point field goals) and forced 23 Lady Eagles turnovers. Offensively North Texas outshot their opponents at 43.9 percent overall (29-for-66) and 21.7 percent from 3-point range (5-for-23). North Texas set a season-high record of 18 steals on the night as sophomore guard N’Yah Boyd and junior guard Destiny Brooks had four steals apiece.   

Through the first half of conference games, North Texas surpassed its total wins against C-USA competition from the 2019-2020 season with seven as of Friday. 

“Our energy has been great to start,” Head coach Jalie Mitchell said. “Our press has worked really well for us and we’ve been really active with our hands and our movement.”

North Texas came into Friday’s series against Southern Miss splitting the two-game series against Louisiana Tech University with a 60-55 loss in game one and a 63-58 win in game two.

Southern Miss missed its previous weekend series against Rice due to COVID-19 concerns, where the Lady Eagles also split their two-game series to the Lady Techsters in a 77-60 loss on Jan 28 and a 57-44 win on Jan. 30.

Out of the gate, North Texas jumped to a 29-14 lead in the first quarter with Noble scoring 12 points with a 3-pointer, including sophomore guard Jazion Jackson and senior forward Emma Villas-Gomis adding 3-pointers. The Mean Green for the second game in a row scored 20 points or more in the first quarter. 

In a similar fashion to the previous matchup, North Texas was held to single digits in the second quarter where the Lady Eagles defense allowed six points. 

From the late part of the first quarter to midway through the second quarter Southern Miss went on a 12-0 run to narrow the Mean Green lead from 29-11 to 29-23. The Lady Eagles cashed in on opportunities in the paint scoring 14 of their 18 points in the second quarter. Junior guard Daishai Almond and junior center Kelsey Jones each had four points in the quarter. 

Southern Miss senior guard Jalise Smallwood scored on a layup to make it a 33-32 contest under one minute remaining with North Texas in front. North Texas padded its lead heading into the locker room after freshman Tommisha Lampkin made a layup to end the half at 35-32. 

Taking 14 shots in the second quarter, North Texas was held to two successful field goal attempts (14.3 percent shooting). 

North Texas started the second half with a 10-0 run with senior forward Madi Townley, Boyd and Lee making layups, alongside Noble making a 3-pointer. The offense scored 22 points in the third quarter, making it the consecutive games where the Mean Green scored at least 20 points in two quarters and took a 57-36 lead. 

Defensively North Texas returned the favor of allowing single-digit points to the Lady Eagles in the third quarter. Southern Miss was held to four points and 14.3 percent shooting (2-of-14). 

North Texas conserved its commanding lead as the two teams each scored 19 points in the fourth quarter. 

Townley led the Mean Green with 10 rebounds and Jackson behind her at seven, including a team-high seven assists. 

“Our press opened everyone up,” Noble said. “With [Jackson] playing the front line it helps us get those tips and make the easy buckets.”

Jones led the Lady Eagles with 14 points and nine rebounds, along with freshman guard Kahia Warmsley leading the team with two assists. 

“When we substitute we can’t lose energy and sometimes we do,” Mitchell said. “We’re working on making sure everyone off of the bench matches that same energy and we will be fine when we get to that point.”

Up Next: North Texas will finalize its two-game conference series against Southern Miss Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

Featured Image: Redshirt sophomore guard Quincy Noble encourages her Mean Green teammate after making first free throw against Mississippi on Feb. 12, 2021. Image by Zachary Thomas