NEW ORLEANS - North Texas kept the University of New Orleans' offense off-balance and won 70-64 on Wednesday night at Lakefront Arena.
Freshman Jasmine Godbolt had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead NT (7-18, 4-10 Sun Belt) to their second win over UNO (9-16, 3-11 SBC) this season. The Mean Green shot 41.3 percent from the field and held the hot Lady Privateer offense to a 36.8 percent clip.
Talisha Bridges and Nicole Holmes had 13 points apiece for UNO, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Tiffina' Bennett and Brittany Helm scored 12 and 10 points, respectively with Candice McGee grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.
The game had a familiar tune to the previous encounter when NT piled on the points early as the Mean Green scored 12 straight points to open the contest. Hawkins scored six points during the run as NT shot 4 of 5 from the field compared to an 0 for 5 start for the Lady Privateers.
Unlike the previous game, UNO made their move to comeback early and did so in a big way.
The Lady Privateers went on a 23-3 run that featured six points apiece by Rachele Monroe and Bennett. NT missed six field goal attempts during the run, going scoreless from the field for over 10 minutes of play as UNO pulled ahead 23-15.
The final run of the half would belong to the visitors who knotted the score at 25 before the Lady Privateers held on to a 28-27 lead into the half.
Helm ended an 0 for 6 skid from the field to start the second half by scoring five points during a 7-0 UNO run out of the break. After the run, the Lady Privateers struggled to find the bottom of the basket as NT scored 12 straight and grabbed a 39-35 lead.
Two Mean Green turnovers led to two Bennett fast break lay-ups and the game was tied at 39.
The game would not be tied again until Holmes made consecutive free throws to knot the score at 60 after UNO was forced to come from five points behind. After another tie, a three-point play by Kellum pulled NT into the driver's seat 65-62.
The Lady Privateers reached within two at 66-64 before the Mean Green cleaned up at the charity stripe with James and Ravven Brown combining to make all four attempts at the line to close out the game.
UNO is off for a week before visiting ULM next Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a SBC tilt.
