DENTON, Texas ? North Texas had a strong night on the boards, and the University of New Orleans struggled with turnovers as the Lady Privateers fell 62-53 on Thursday at the Super Pit.
Brittney James had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Yari Escalera had 15 points as the Mean Green (8-10, 3-3 Sun Belt) defeated UNO (9-8, 3-3) for the fifth time in the last six meetings.
Le'Della English paced the Lady Privateers with 21 points and five steals. Candice McGee was one of three UNO players with eight points, and she also posted five steals. UNO held the Mean Green to just 30 percent shooting ? including 23 percent in the first half.
But the Mean Green enjoyed a 53-36 rebounding advantage and had 28 offensive rebounds. The Mean Green had 15 second-chance points.
“They did a nice job keeping us off the boards and aggressively going to the boards on the offensive end,” said UNO head coach Amy Champion. “They have great size in the post. They simply out-played us on the boards. We just didn't work hard enough.”
UNO was also victimized by 23 turnovers, including 10 from point guard Brittany Helm. The Lady Privateers had 13 miscues in the second half.
Early on, though, it looked like UNO was going to get its second straight win in Denton. The Lady Privateers raced out to a 14-2 lead and led 19-4 with 12 minutes left in the first half. The Mean Green, however, used a 9-0 spurt to get back into it and trailed 27-24 at halftime.
“Jumping out ahead like that, having a little early success ? it's all new to us,” Champion said. “We just don't know how to act yet. We're still a little young and learning in that regard.”
NT took its first lead of the game ? 28-27 -- on a James layup with 17:48 left in the game. The game was tight until the late minutes, when the Mean Green broke open a 52-48 lead with 2:41 remaining with an 8-0 run during the next two minutes.
UNO will travel to Middle Tennessee for a 2 p.m. matchup on Sunday.
