North Texas Women Win In Kansas City
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Seven games into the season, North Texas women’s basketball’s goose egg has finally hatched. Following their most complete – and in turn dominating – performance, the Mean Green defeated UMKC by a score of 65-47 to improve to 1-6.
North Texas took its first lead at 4-3 and led by as many as 25 midway through the second half, as the Kangaroos were overmatched from start to finish. Just as it has been all season, the Mean Green defense stifled UMKC all day long.
The Kangaroos committed 24 turnovers, including 15 in the first half alone. The home team attempted only 40 shots, compared to 60 for North Texas. Head coach Mike Petersen was very pleased with his team’s performance on the defensive end, just like he has been all year.
“The encouraging thing for this group is defensively we’ve played very hard, stayed with the plan and been very disruptive,” he said. “[UMKC] had been shooting the ball really well this season, but we were very disruptive and made them turn the ball over.”
Something out of the norm for the Mean Green was its positive performance on the offensive end. North Texas had three players reach double figures; seniors Briesha Wynn and BreAnna Dawkins combined for 29 points, as each shot 7-16 from the floor. Junior Acheil Tac had her best game of the season in the paint. The forward
scored 11 points on 5-8 shooting and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
North Texas scored more than 60 points for the first time this season, and set a new season high by shooting 46.7-percent from the field. Dawkins’ 15 points were a team-high mark, as well as a season high by the guard who just participated in her graduation ceremony less than 24 hours before tip off.
Most of all, the Mean Green were just happy to finally earn a victory and plan to enjoy the spoils of Kansas City following the win.
“We’re gonna go get some barbecue, and if we would have lost it would have tasted horrible,” Petersen joked, as he continued to explain how losing took its toll. “When we lose I don’t sleep, food tastes bad, (his wife) Patty’s jokes aren’t as funny… They knew that to win it would take a lot of hard work, and we did that today.”
North Texas now moves on to San Francisco for a matchup Wednesday December 17 at 9 p.m. The Dons are 7-2 on the season and boast a 5-0 home record at War Memorial Gym. After the win today, the Mean Green improved its road record to 1-1.
