North Texas Daily

Women’s basketball lost its three-game winning streak in a 61-52 game against the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday afternoon.

“They’re a tough matchup for us,” head coach Jalie Mitchell said. “They play five guards [making] it tough for our bigs. Then we went five guards and didn’t make enough shots.”

Despite a career-high 15 points from freshman guard Ereauna Hardaway and 13 points from sophomore guard Kendall McGruder, the Mean Green (9-13, 6-6 Conference USA) could not overcome freshman guard Denim DeShields, who led the Blazers with 24 points, six rebounds, and five assists on 50 percent shooting from the field.

North Texas shot a season-worst with 29.8 percent from the field, 22.2 percent from the 3-point line in the loss, and 66.67 percent from the free-throw line — all of which are lower than their averages for the season.

“[It] was not good enough from the offensive end,” Mitchell said. “Executing the offense as well as from the free throw line.”

The Mean Green opened the game with an 11-5 run. However, that would be their largest lead of the contest as the Blazers (11-12, 3-11)  responded with a 9-0 run to finish the first period with a 16-11 lead. North Texas shot 25.53 percent from the field in the period.

North Texas kept the game within reach outscoring the Blazers 17-14 in the second period, which was their best shooting period of the game as they shot 35.7 percent from the field. Both teams were knotted at 28 entering the locker rooms and there were eight total lead changes in the game. 

While the Mean Green opened the third period with a quick five-point advantage, The Blazers would again respond with their own 14-3 run. They were led by DeShields who scored 10 points and went six-of-seven from the free throw line in the third quarter alone, giving them a 46-40 advantage entering the fourth.  

North Texas struggles from the field continued in the fourth shooting 30.8 percent from the field while being outscored in the period 15-12. DeShields scored an additional eight points in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Sophomore forward Destinee McGhee also added 16 points on 50 percent shooting for the Blazers.

“[The Blazers] scoring 61 overall is not terrible defensively,” Mitchell said.  “But some of the ways they were scoring I thought we could have done a better job against.”

While the Mean Green had a season-low nine turnovers as a team, they gave up 34 points in the paint and got outrebounded 44-39. 

Senior guard Quincy Noble scored nine points on 33.3 percent shooting — her lowest-scoring performance since the first game of this season. Noble currently ranks third in points per game in conference play with 16.9 ppg. This is only her third game of the season in which she hasn’t scored double-digit points.

The loss makes North Texas 3-10 in road games this season.

The win for the Blazers is the first series sweep over the Mean Green this season after beating the Mean Green 76-74 earlier in January.

North Texas will return to action Saturday to take on Charlotte, in Charlotte N.C. at 3:00 PM CT.

Featured Image Freshman guard Ereauna Hardaway looks for a pass during a match against Rice University on Feb. 4, 2023. Photo by Lindy Jenkins