UNT Women Dominate ULL
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LAFAYETTE, La. – A dominating performance from freshman Alexis Hyder powered the North Texas (8-13, 7-5) women’s basketball team to a 64-46 win over Louisiana-Lafayette at the Earl K. Long Gym. Hyder notched her fifth double-double of the season with 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to help end the Mean Green’s three-game losing streak.
“We did a nice job tonight and this is a hard building to play in,” said North Texas head coach Mike Petersen. “We didn’t start well at all, but I’ve been a little spoiled with that of late, but we fought through that and Alexis played strong and it was a nice effort.”
It was the first double-double for Hyder since December 22nd and the most rebounds in a game by a North Texas freshman since 2010.
Both teams struggled in the early going offensively, but North Texas broke open a 17-17 game late in the first half. The Mean Green went on a 9-0 run in the final 3:29 capped off by a 3-pointer from Loryn Goodwin to take a 26-17 lead into the break.
The Mean Green extended the run to 16-0 to begin the second half, scoring the first seven points to make it 33-17 with 17:22 left in the game. North Texas kept a double figure lead at 42-27, when the Ragin Cajuns (7-14, 1-11) made a run of 9-0 to cut the Mean Green edge to 42-36 with
less than 10 minutes to play.
North Texas responded back as the freshman Hyder and Goodwin, combined with the Mean Green’s defense, stopped the Cajun run.
Hyder ended the run with a 3-point play and Goodwin added two free throws to push the lead back to double figures at 11. North Texas put an exclamation point on the win with a Laura McCoy 3-pointer with 2:21 remaining to make it a 59-39 lead.
The Mean Green held Louisiana-Lafayette to 16 percent shooting (4-25) from behind the arc and the 46 points allowed were the fewest of the season by North Texas.
North Texas returns to action Sunday afternoon with a key Sun Belt West Division showdown at Arkansas State. The Red Wolves hold a two-game lead over North Texas in the West Division as tip time is at 2 p.m.
