Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
-149, 82 CUSA
University of North Texas
-1111, 46 CUSA
MCGILL: Herd gaining respect as wins pile up
2/7/2019 9:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Marshall 67, North Texas 55
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The last time the Marshall women's basketball team started 8-2 in league play was 2004-05 in the Mid-American Conference. The last time the program won four consecutive road games, as this year's Herd team has accomplished, was the same season. In fact, that season was the last time a women's hoops team here won six games in January … until now.
February continued to be good to Marshall at the Henderson Center on Thursday night as the Herd led wire-to-wire and pulled off another win, 67-55, against North Texas. Marshall, in its second season under the guidance of coach Tony Kemper, has won nine of 11 games since Christmas. The team is 14-9 overall and 8-2 in Conference USA, equaling the best 10-game start in the last 14 seasons.
Not shabby for a team picked to finish 13th out of 14 in the C-USA preseason poll.
"They feel like they have to earn respect," Kemper said Thursday night. "They're doing it, little by little."
They're doing it with defense. They're doing it whether senior Shayna Gore, who has her name all over the school's record books, scores in bunches or helps facilitate scoring for others. They're doing what few others thought they could, but they're doing it together.
"I feel disrespected when teams come in here," said senior guard Taylor Porter.
That is changing. After Thursday night's game, Marshall is in a tie for third place in C-USA. The 2004-05 team, which finished 12-4 in the MAC and shared the East Division championship, had the second most votes for the team picked to win the conference tournament title.
The Herd, after finishing last a season ago, is outperforming the preseason prognostication by 10 spots in the standings.
"I think they are earning respect," Kemper said of his players. "I believe we were picked in the spot we deserved to be picked in, and then we've handled it the way you're supposed to handle it. I don't think anybody slighted us."
Marshall jumped out to a 9-0 lead Thursday night, and Gore wasted little time getting started on one of her best statistical performances. She assisted on the game's first basket, then intercepted a pass and raced to the other end of the floor to hit a 3-pointer. She added two more buckets – the first one a nifty spin move and jumper from the left wing, and the second on a strong drive to the right side of the hoop – to give the Herd its 9-point cushion to start the game.
Gore alternated quarters between scoring and distributing. She finished with 25 points and tied a career-high with nine assists, but had 10 points each in the first and the third quarters. In the second quarter, she watched as Kristen Mayo, Princess Clemons and Taylor Pearson connected on 3s. Gore scored one basket in the second quarter as Marshall built a 10-point halftime lead, 36-26, but had three assists.
In the fourth quarter, the Herd made three baskets and Gore recorded the assist on each. Combining her points and assists, she was responsible for 46 of the team's 67 points (68.7 percent).
"Shayna's line is unbelievable," Kemper said. "She's such a good scorer and it's been part of her life for so long. At times she presses so much because she knows how good at it she is, but I also know how much better she makes players around her. She can get other people shots they can drain, and she did that tonight."
Marshall had no other players in double figures, but six players scored at least 5 points. Porter and Mayo each added 9, Pearson finished with 7 and Khadaijia Brooks had 6. Gore also tied for the team lead in rebounds with five, and finished with a game-high four steals.
The Herd held North Texas to 32.8 percent shooting (20 of 61), and forced the visitors into missing their final nine shots. The Mean Green went the final 8:25 without a field goal as Marshall put together its third separate three-game winning streak since Christmas.
"We're so small, so we have to play defense and it's going to lead to buckets for all of us," Gore said.
Kemper said the team's success is also linked to its ability to handle adversity. Marshall trailed Charlotte by 8 points last month, but rallied to win by 1. It took three overtimes and 90 points to knock off Louisiana Tech. During last week's two-game Texas road trip, the Herd trailed by 14 points at UTEP and 12 points at UTSA, but won both games.
"It's not perfect, but that's what they figured out," Kemper said. "It never is."
Next, Marshall plays five games against teams currently ranked in the top six of the C-USA standings. Combined, those teams are 86-29 this season. Four of them were picked Nos. 1-4 in the same preseason poll that had the Herd dwelling near the cellar.
"It is very unfinished," Kemper said of the season, which has six regular season games remaining. "I'm really excited to go through the group of teams we're about to go through. It's really going to stress us and it's really going to challenge us. The teams that we have played and beaten, they have made us better for this run of really good teams."
Marshall hosts first-place Rice this Saturday at noon. The Owls are 19-3 overall and 10-0 in league play.
"Saturday, if you're not doing anything in Huntington, you need to be in the Henderson Center at 12 o'clock," Kemper said. "Rice is tremendous. It's going to take a great, great effort to have a shot. We're excited about it; we're excited about the things we've done, but we don't sit on them long, which is why we've continued to play well."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a seven-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
