North Texas Daily

Women’s basketball will enter the Conference USA tournament on a two-game losing streak after a 76-67 loss to Western Kentucky University on the road in its final game of the season. 

It was a game of runs as North Texas (11-19, 8-12 C-USA) held an 11-point lead on two different occasions, while also trailing by as much as nine. The game was the sixth loss this season in which the Mean Green possessed a double-digit advantage during the game.

“I thought we allowed them to get too much easy stuff off the turnovers and they capitalized on that momentum,” head coach Jalie Mitchell said. “Those are things you just can’t afford. They’re [second] in the league for a reason.”

North Texas turned it over 20 times, resulting in 25 points for the Lady Toppers (17-12, 14-6), who had 15 turnovers for 24 points on the other end for the game. 

The Mean Green had four players in double-digit scoring, while Western Kentucky (17-12, 14-6) had three — including 17 points on 60 percent shooting from two-time C-USA freshman of the week, Acacia Hayes. Freshman guard Karris Aleen went 3-5 on 3-pointers and scored 16 points.

Junior forward Tommisha Lampkin led the team with 16 points on 5-7 shooting in 25 minutes of playing time, her fourth performance scoring in double figures in the past five games. Junior guard Jaaucklyn Moore added 14 points off the bench on 6-7 of shooting and 2-3 on 3-pointers.

The Mean Green entered the game strong as they quickly jumped out to a 10-2 lead behind a 70 percent shooting mark in the opening quarter, while also forcing five Hilltopper turnovers for 11 points on the other end.  The Lady Toppers hung around and closed the period on a 5-0 run to bring the game within six points.

Western Kentucky shrunk what was once an 11 point advantage down to two points with 5:47 remaining in the second, leading to a Mean Green timeout. North Texas hit its next three shots coming out of the timeout including two consecutive 3-pointers from Moore and from senior guard Quincy Noble. 

“We did not handle their pressure well at all today,” Mitchell said. “We knew coming in that would be a key to getting a win.”

Western Kentucky managed to find its stride just before the break by scoring the final seven points of the half while holding the Mean Green scoreless for the final three minutes to crawl back within four points. 

Noble scored 12 points in the first half of the game but was held scoreless on 0-8 shooting the remainder of the way.

North Texas quickly missed the production of their leading scorer as the Lady Toppers opened the latter half of the matchup on a 12-4 run, claiming their first lead of the game just minutes into the third. 

“They did what they do and we did not handle it well for the full 40 minutes,” Mitchell said.

Despite the Mean Green entering the fourth trailing by one point, the Lady Toppers produced an 8-0 run to eventually outscore them 19-11 in the period and secured the win.

North Texas got 10 points from junior guard Jordyn Carter on a 5-7 shooting mark, while sophomore guard Macey Blevins added 12 points for Western Kentucky on a perfect 5-5 shooting from the field.

The Mean Green are now locked into the seventh seed for the C-USA tournament as they are matched up with the University of Alabama-Birmingham (13-16, 5-15). North Texas lost both regular season matchups to the Blazers earlier this season.

Featured Image Junior guard Jaaucklyn Moore shots sround a defender in a game against Louisiana Tech University on Feb. 16, 2023. Marco Barrera