North Texas Women Lose at La Tech
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RUSTON, La. — All season long, the North Texas women’s basketball team had leaned on its defense. On Thursday night in Ruston, it backfired, as the Mean Green lost to LA Tech by a score of 92-57. A defense that came in ranked first in Conference USA allowed 35 points above its season average and that was the difference in the game.
The Lady Techsters surely filled up the stat sheet tonight, as the home team had seven players who scored eight or more points. Whitney Frazier led LA Tech with 19 points on 8-11 shooting from the floor, while JaQuan Jackson added 12 of her won. Perhaps the most impressive effort of the night came from Chrisstasia Walker. The senior point guard had eight points, nine rebounds and tied her career-high with 13 assists.
Overall, the Lady Techsters shot 49.2-percent from the field (32-65), including 52.2-percent (12-23) from beyond the arc; both marks being the best by North Texas opponents this season. The 92 points was a season-high by LA Tech, who improved to 9-8 on the season and 4-2 in C-USA play. With the loss, the Mean Green fell to 2-15 on the season and 1-5 in C-USA play.
“It was a double edged sword; we didn’t defend very well and they shot the ball unbelievably well,” head coach Mike Petersen said. “I thought they executed their stuff pretty well. They didn’t have anything that we didn’t prepare for, but they worked hard to get good shots and they knocked them down.”
BreAnna Dawkins led the Mean Green with 18 points on 6-11 shooting, including a 2-2 mark from beyond the arc; the 18 points was a season-high for the senior. Briesha Wynn added 12 points and five rebounds; it was the sixth consecutive double-digit scoring game for the senior. A true bright spot for North Texas was the play of Kasiney Williams. The junior point guard scored a career-high nine points on 3-7 shooting and added two assists, which ties a career-high.
Now, the Mean Green moves on to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where the team is set to face the Golden Eagles January 24 at 4 p.m. Despite the disappointing performance and a tough loss, Petersen knows the only way to overcome the struggles is to put them in the past.
“We move forward because there’s not another option,” he stated. “Nobody’s happy and nobody’s in a good mood, because we’re 2-15. We have 48 hours to move forward and we’re going to do that.”
