North Texas Daily

Saturday afternoon North Texas women’s basketball took down Rice University 75-66  in Houston to end conference play on an offensive contribution from sophomore guard Quincy Noble scoring 27 points. 

North Texas (13-6, Conference USA 10-4) for the first time since the 2005-2006 season ends conference play with at least 10 wins and finished at the No. 3 slot in C-USA west. The Mean Green brought down Rice (16-3, C-USA 12-2) on their home court during a conference matchup for the first time since March 2018 when Louisiana Tech University defeated the Owls 70-62.

“I thought our response was very good today,” Head coach Jalie Mitchell said. “We kept our head — we were less emotional today and managed the game a lot better. You would have thought there is a bunch of juniors and seniors out there.”

Thursday evening Rice rallied in the fourth quarter to win game one 64-58 in the Super Pit. Sophomore guard Jazion Jackson had a career-high 20 points in game one. 

In the first quarter, North Texas jumped out to a 16-9 lead with Noble contributing nine points with a 3-pointer. Jackson tacked on five points making a 3-pointer likewise. 

 The Mean Green expanded on its lead to take a 38-22 lead over the Owls. In the second quarter alone North Texas made 4-for-5 3-pointers attempted, junior guard Destiny Brooks joined the action making two 3-pointers, sophomore guard N’Yah Boyd and Noble banking in 3-pointers. 

Rice failed to shoot above 30 percent in the half as the Owls shot 24.2 percent in the first half as junior guard Haylee Swayze led the scoring efforts with eight points by halftime. 

North Texas in the first half shot more than 20 percent higher than the Owls as the team shot 45.2 percent, with Noble scoring 15 points. 

The Owls through the first four minutes of the third quarter produced a 14-2 run with senior center Nancy Mulkey tallying six points on jumpers and junior guard Jasmine Smith raking in eight points with a 3-pointer. 

In the next four minutes, North Texas went on a 10-2 run getting five points from senior forward Emma Villas-Gomis, four points from Noble and a 3-pointer by Boyd. North Texas held a 53-43 lead at the end of the third frame. 

As two minutes remained the Owls inched closer to the Mean Green trailing 66-62 by exchanging points in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter. North Texas sealed the game on a 9-2 run as the Mean Green scored on jumpers by Boyd and senior forward Madison Townley. Boyd and Noble combined five total points in free throws to come away with the win. 

Noble led North Texas in scoring with 27 points, along with Villas-Gomis going for 15 points and Boyd finishing with 13. Freshman guard Keira Neal, Villas-Gomis, Boyd and Noble tallied two assists each. Townley had a team-high 12 rebounds. 

“I just wanted to beat them, we all wanted to beat them,” Noble said. “I didn’t play my best game Thursday, but today my teammates helped uplift me and the coaching staff invested in me. [Villas-Gomis] sealed it off for me to get to the lane, and the team worked well together. I don’t think I would be able to get those final drives without my posts sealing.”

Smith led the Owls scoring efforts with 18 points, including Schwartz and Mulkey who contributed 12 points apiece. Smith also had a team-high four assists. Crosthwait had the team-high rebounds for the Owls with seven.

“This is a great win with some awesome momentum going into the tournament,” Mitchell said. “We want to build on it.” 

Up Next: North Texas awaits the winner of the preliminary round in the C-USA women’s basketball tournament between Old Dominion University (10-10, C-USA 7-9) and Western Kentucky University (7-15, C-USA 6-10). Old Dominion swept Western Kentucky in both games this week 55-53 and 57-55. 

Featured Image: Sophomore guard Jazion Jackson lays the ball up around the outstretched arm of a Rice defender during a game on March 4, 2021. Image by Zach Del Bello