DENTON, Texas - North Texas let a 27-point lead shrink to eight, but was able to hold on for a 94-84 win over New Orleans on Saturday afternoon at The Super Pit.
NT (5-12, 2-4 Sun Belt) built their large lead by making 47.4 percent of their shots from the field for the contest and added a 24 of 29 performance from the charity stripe in the second half to prevent UNO (7-10, 1-5 SBC) from getting closer than eight in the game's final minutes.
The win broke up a five-game losing skid for the Mean Green, as Brittney James scored 26 points, which included a 14 of 17 effort from the charity stripe. Tamara Torru added 17 points with Jasmine Godbolt chipping in 13 points..
Brittany Helm scored a season-high 21 points as the Lady Privateers lost when scoring 70 points for the first time in 17 games, dating back to a Dec. 2, 2007 loss to Appalachian State.
Juanita Cochran notched her first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in just 23 minutes.
Off the bench,
D'Mesha Hewett put in a career-high 12 points - all in the second half - to become the 10th member of the UNO roster to score at least 10 points in a game this season. Hewett's bench play allowed the Lady Privateers to outscore the Mean Green 33-10 off the bench, after UNO failed to score a single point off the bench in the opening half.
The Mean Green made it known from the opening jump that they would have success from beyond the arc, connecting on their first two long-range shots to take a 6-0 lead. The advantage continued to grow with NT pulling ahead 20-4 within the first seven minutes of the contest.
With UNO shooting just 23.1 percent in the opening half and the Mean Green bench outscoring the Lady Privateers 16-0 off the bench, the hosts entered the half with a 40-22 lead.
Talisha Bridges was a catalyst for the UNO effort in the second half, contributing to a 6-0 run that cut the deficit down to 16 points early in the half.
The Mean Green lead would reach 27 points at 66-39 with 9:56 remaining before the Lady Privateers were awakened.
Highlighted by a eight-point run by Hewett, UNO cut the Mean Green advantage to 11 at 70-59 with 5:36 left, capping a 20-4 run that covered 4:20 of clock. UNO would get within 11 points on several occasions, before a
Rachele Monroe three-pointer with 1:52 remaining in the game pulled the Lady Privateers to single-digits for the first time since early in the first half.
Head coach
Amy Champion instructed her team to foul as the clock ticked down to zero, but a NT squad that averaged 61.7 percent from the charity stripe entering the contest, stepped up to complete a 79.1 percent effort for the game.
The Lady Privateers will host UALR at Lakefront Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a contest that will be streamed exclusively on UNOPrivateers.com. The contest will be preceded by a "Welcome Back Tip-Off" event featuring free food, music and prizes on the arena concourse for UNO students.
