Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
North Texas
Stingy Defense Keys Herd Road Win
2/25/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats
DENTON, Tx. - Marshall's women's basketball team held North Texas to four second-quarter points and led by as many as 16 in a 62-54 win over the Mean Green Saturday evening in The Super Pit.
The Thundering Herd improved to 9-19 overall and 3-12 in Conference USA. North Texas had its four-game winning streak snapped and fell to 15-11 and 6-8 in league play.
Talequia Hamilton (19) and Shayna Gore (18) combined for 37 of the Thundering Herd's points, while Gore had six assists and Hamilton added six rebounds and three steals. The pair also took, and made, all 11 of Marshall's free throw attempts.
The Mean Green was led by Terriell Bradley's 18 points, but she took 17 field goal attempts to get that total. Lauren Holmes registered 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Micayla Buckner secured a game-high eight rebounds. Brittany Smith posted three steals before fouling out.
Marshall's depleted roster had struggled in the rebounding department since the start of league play, but won that effort by one (35-34) Saturday evening and held a commanding edge in assists (16-5). The Thundering Herd also matched the Mean Green with 22 points in the paint.
Marshall took a seven-point halftime lead (26-19) and increased the margin to 16 (37-21) on a fastbreak layup by Hamilton with 5:29 left in the third quarter.
The home team got as close as three points (49-46) on a Bradley jumper with 5:59 left but the Thundering Herd answered with a three-point play by Hamilton and a layup by Kate Zhibareva to push the margin back to eight just over a minute later. The Mean Green got no closer than four the rest of the way.
"We made a lot of plays," said Marshall head coach Tony Kemper. "The thing that I'm really pleased with is they (North Texas) did punch back there at the end, and even though we did make some plays that you want to stay away from, we steadied ourselves in the end and made it happen. That's a great win for that group in our locker room."
"I thought Talequia Hamilton was unbelievable. She really led us and, defensively, she was tremendous. We need a repeat performance of that on Thursday night."
The Thundering Herd will host FAU Thursday evening at 6 p.m. in the Cam Henderson Center in its season finale. Hamilton, the team's lone senior, will be honored in a pregame ceremony.
