North Texas Daily

North Texas women’s basketball (1-1, 0-0 Conference USA) leaves Austin with their first loss of the season to Texas (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) in a 106-69 matchup, resulting in Longhorn junior forward Charli Collier scoring 44 points. In her five seasons at North Texas, Sunday’s loss is the first game head coach Jalie Mitchell’s squad has allowed 100 points or more.

The Longhorns attempted 42 free throws, making 30 (71.4 percent) to capitalize on North Texas’ 35 personal fouls. Texas also outrebounded North Texas 44 to 23.

“Basketball is a possession game,” Mitchell said. “I thought Texas was very good at getting to the free-throw line and rebounding the ball today. Those two things gave them extra possessions and the opportunity to put points on the board.”

Through the final two and a half minutes of the first quarter, North Texas trailed 19-13 and took a 20-19 lead on a 7-0 run within 57 seconds, scoring on junior guard Destiny Brooks’s 3-pointer and layups from sophomore forward Destinee McDowell and freshman forward Tommisha Lampkin. Texas would regain the lead 24-20 to close the first quarter with Collier scoring 12 points.

North Texas kept it to a two-possession game with 3:32 left remaining in the half, trailing 35-30 to the Longhorns. Texas finished the first half on an 11-2 run to lead 46-32.

The Mean Green were held to 3-of-14 attempts shooting in the second quarter after shooting 50 percent (8-for-16 attempts) in the first quarter. North Texas was 11-for-30 overall shooting (36.7 percent) and was 3-for-5 (60 percent) in 3-point shooting.

Texas in the third quarter went on a 13-0 run to take a 67-40 lead. In the third quarter, Texas shot 75 percent (12-of-16) in field goal attempts while North Texas shot 53.3 percent (8-for-15) in field goal attempts.

The Longhorns outscored the Mean Green 38-24 in the third quarter where Collier scored 16 of her 44 total points. The Longhorns continued its scoring surge in the fourth quarter, outscoring the mean Green 22-13.

Sophomore guard Quincy Noble and Brooks led North Texas in scoring with 12 points. Sophomore guard N’Yah Boyd led North Texas with five assists and junior forward Charlene Shepherd led the Mean Green in rebounding with seven.

Collier led the Longhorns in scoring with 44 points and in rebounding with 16. Junior Texas guard Joanna Allen-Taylor led her team with three assists.

“As we continue to grow as a team I believe we will respond better to adversity and compete at our highest level for 40 minutes,” Mitchell said. “That’s what all great teams do and together we will get there.”

UP NEXT: North Texas plays Louisiana-Lafayette on the road Thursday, Dec. 4 to continue a three-game road stretch.

Featured Image: Sophomore N’yah Boyd dribbles the ball against UTSA on Feb. 22, 2020. Image by Ryan Cantrell