Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
North Texas
Mean Green's Late Rally Dooms Herd, 63-50
1/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2014
DENTON, Texas - A late offensive surge by North Texas prevented Marshall from gaining its first Conference USA win, as the Herd fell, 63-50, at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas, Wednesday evening.
The Herd dropped to 7-9, 0-3 with the road loss and is now 1-2 away from Huntington. With the victory, North Texas found its first league win as a Conference USA newcomer, moving to 7-9, 1-2.
Coach Matt Daniel put a new starting lineup on the floor, with Chukwuka Ezeigbo (Trenton, N.J.) and Erica Woods (St. George, Bermuda) back in the first string, joining Leah Scott (Detroit), AJ Johnson (Silver Spring, Md.) and Norrisha Victrum (Columbia, S.C.).
Marshall started out with the upper hand, going on an 11-to-2 run in the first six minutes of play. After re-gaining her starting spot, Ezeigbo made an impact with four early points during the Herd run. To start, Marshall held the Mean Green to 1-of-16 from the field, but allowed North Texas to come back and tie the game at 21 with a 17-to-10 run over 10:03. Turnovers hurt the Herd, as Marshall committed 12 in the first half. Prior to Wednesday's contest, the team was averaging 12.8 turnovers per game.
The score would tie twice more before halftime, as the teams went to the locker rooms with the score knotted at 25.
Coming out of the break, the teams traded leads six times before North Texas settled into a 7-0 run to pull ahead, 42-34, at 12:13. A late drought was detrimental for Marshall, as the team went without a field goal from 10:30 to 5:37 in the second half, going 0-of-10. The Mean Green found its largest lead of 15 with 1:55 left, the score 63-48. Two free throws by Suporia Dickens (Freeport, Ill.) ended the game with the Herd down, 63-50.
Two Mean Green players came off the bench to score in double-digits, with 41 of North Texas' 63 points contributed by the bench. Laura McCoy shot 5-of-10 from the field, 3-of-8 from deep to end with 13 points, while Alexis Hyder put up a team-high 18 points. Briesha Wynn ended with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Marshall ended with 19 turnovers, the most since committing 19 versus Morehead State, Nov. 18. The Herd also struggled from the free-throw line, shooting 8-of-16 (.500), the lowest percentage since going .500 at Robert Morris, Nov. 12. For the fifth-consecutive game, Marshall was outrebounded (41-37).
Despite the loss, Dickens grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds while contributing eight points. Victrum had seven assists, her most since making eight versus Wofford (Dec. 19), and played all 40 minutes. Scott ended with a team-high 15 points, marking her fifth-consecutive game in double-digits.
Next, Marshall will complete its Texas road swing at Rice, Saturday, at 3 p.m. ET in Houston. For all the latest information about Marshall women's basketball, follow @HerdWBB on Twitter.
