North Texas Daily

Alex Young & Austin Schubert / Staff Writers –

The UNT women’s basketball team earned a road split with a double-digit victory over the Texas State Bobcats Friday and a narrow loss to the Arizona Wildcats Monday.
After winning four of its first six games, the team is off to its best start in six years.

Texas State
The Mean Green (4-2) hammered the Texas State Bobcats (3-2), 61-43 at Strahan Coliseum Friday to earn back-to-back wins for the first time since Jan. 13, 2010.

“We play with a lot more energy than we did last year,” senior guard Tamara Torru said. “I can tell that everyone is more optimistic and it shows in the games.”

Torru got the Mean Green off to a fast start, scoring the team’s first 8 points as UNT built an early 8-3 lead. Torru finished with a game-high 22 points for the game on 9-13 shooting.

The team slowed down after the strong start, shooting just 23 percent from the floor in the first half and holding a slim 24-21 lead at the break.
UNT came out strong early in the second half, jumping out to a 41-27 lead. The Bobcats never got within 12 points after the run.

The Mean Green shot 50 percent after the break.

Junior forward Jasmine Godbolt added 18 points for UNT on 6-15 shooting and going 6-12 from the free-throw stripe.

UNT kept the Bobcats in check from start to finish, using a strong defensive performance with five blocks – two by freshman forward Braylah Blakely – and holding Texas State to just 26 percent shooting.

“I’m happy to get the win, but we have to shoot the ball better,” head coach Karen Aston said. “Our lack of execution will be exposed as we play some tougher teams if we don’t improve.”

Arizona
Facing a Pacific-12 Conference team in Tuscon Monday, the Mean Green suffered its first road defeat of the season in 69-62 loss to the Arizona Wildcats (5-0).

After UNT jumped out to a 4-1 lead, the Wildcats went on a 17-3 run and took a 37-26 lead at halftime.

In the first 12 minutes of the second half, things only got worse for the Mean Green. With eight minutes left in the game, UNT trailed by 22 at 57-35. But, on the shoulders of Torru, the Mean Green made a valiant comeback, cutting the deficit to 5 with just under three minutes to go.

Davellyn Whyte, who led Arizona with 20 points, answered with a key layup to put the game out of reach.
Despite UNT suffering its first road loss of the season, Aston said she was pleased with the team’s effort.

“We got to a certain point in the game where it was time to get with it,” Aston said. “The girls could’ve given up, but they kept on fighting.”

Torru finished the game with a career-high 26 points, including 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

“I didn’t even know that I had scored my career high until somebody told me,” Torru said. “It’s exciting, but I would’ve been happier if we won.”

The team returns to action Friday against Oregon State in the Gene Hackerman Invitational.