Southern Miss
North Texas
Southern Miss loses 75-62 challenge to North Texas
1/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2017
DENTON, Texas. -- The Southern Miss Lady Eagles (11-7, 3-3) were cut 75-62 by North Texas (6-11, 3-3) on Thursday evening.
"North Texas shot the cover off the ball," said head coach Joye Lee-McNelis." But we did not defend like we are capable of defending. That's what we hang our hat on. Our team has to get back on track mentally. We've got to refocus. Did we play hard? We did in some aspects of our game, but not in others. Can we fix it within 48 hours? Yes we can, but it's got to happen between the ears."
The start of the game was closely contested with eight lead changes and Southern Miss led 21-17 at the close of the first quarter. The Lady Eagles gave up the lead in the second as it went through a five minutes scoring drought.
Southern Miss would claw within three in the third, but couldn't overcome the deficit as North Texas shot 56 percent from the floor and 52.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Brittanny Dinkins led the team with 22, her fourth straight game with 20 or more, and she passed Gina Griffin to become the Lady Eagle's 17 all-time leading scorer. She also had four steals to add to three rebounds. Jayla King had a bounce-back game with 14 points and eight boards. Southern Miss was able to outscore North Texas 14-2 on fast breaks.
The Lady Eagles travel south on I-45 to Houston and rendezvous with the Owls of Rice on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. Lady Eagle fans can hear Josh West on the radio broadcast for the game on WFOR 1400 AM at 1:30 p.m. CT.
