Marshall Makes a Thursday Trip to The Super Pit

DENTON, Texas – The Marshall women's basketball team travels to Denton to take on North Texas Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 CT.

The Thundering Herd enters the game with a 8-4 overall record and 3-0 in Conference USA play. The Mean Green comes in at 6-5 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Game Details
Live Stats: STATBROADCAST
Live Video: ESPN+
Marshall Radio: 88.1 WMUL-FM and online at www.marshall.edu/wmul on Stream 2 with Jason Corriher
Marshall Game Notes (PDF)
Series History: 11 all-time meetings – Marshall leads 7-5
Last Meeting: February 26-27, 2021 in Denton, Texas – North Texas won game 1 52-51, Marshall won game 2 56-55

Last Time Out
Savannah Wheeler had a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while Brianah Ferby scored 15 of her season-high 20 points in the game's final 10 minutes as Marshall knocked off Florida Atlantic 66-51 in Boca Raton on Saturday. Lorelei Roper led the team with eight rebounds (four offensive) and a career-high three steals. Aaliyah Dunham shook off an 0-for-9 shooting effort to record a game-high five assists.

The Owls were led by 10 points apiece from Sofia Galeron and Amber Gaston. Galeron also had 10 rebounds in her double-double effort. Alexa Zaph led the way in assists with four and Janeta Rozentale recorded three steals.

The turnover category was the main storyline throughout the game as Marshall hounded FAU into 22 miscues, which the Herd converted into 25 points. On the other end, the Herd took good care of the ball, committing just eight turnovers.

The two teams were dead even through one quarter (12-12), but Rozentale's triple at the 2:21 mark of the second quarter gave the home team its largest lead at 26-18. The Herd, though, got three points from Wheeler and two Roper charity tosses to trim the margin back to three (26-23) at the break.

The Owls led by three (38-35) after three quarters, but that's when Marshall turned up the juice. After Rozentale made another 3-pointer, the Herd forced an FAU timeout when Ferby drilled three consecutive shots to put MU in front 47-41 with 6:25 left. She connected again on a jumper with 2:10 left to give the visitors its first double-digit lead (55-45) and Marshall made the necessary free throws down the stretch to salt away the victory.

The Thundering Herd won the rebounding battle 37-36, which came without the services of starting power forward Kennedi Colclough, who missed Saturday's contest.

Marshall also held a 14-4 edge on fast break points.

The Opponent
North Texas comes in with an overall record of 6-5, and on a three-game skid, as well as 0-1 in Conference USA. After falling 67-64 to Wichita State on December 17, the next game against Oklahoma State (December 21) was canceled. North Texas was able to add a non-conference contest at No. 10 Baylor on December 29 and fell 86-65. The Mean Green then saw its next two games to start C-USA action get postponed at Rice (January 1) and at UAB (January 6).

North Texas finally began league play on January 9 at Middle Tennessee and lost 80-52. Quincy Noble led the team with 13 points and Madi Townley had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. However, the Mean Green could not recover after allowing the Blue Raiders to shoot 62.5 percent in the first quarter and then 53.3 percent in the fourth. Middle Tennessee also drained 11 three-pointers and outrebounded North Texas 43-36. The Mean Green shot 66.7 percent in the second quarter, but couldn't maintain the momentum, scoring nine points in the third and eight in the fourth.

Scoring for North Texas has been balanced this season with seven players averaging at least six points per game, as the Mean Green are tops in C-USA with 73.6 points per contest. Noble leads with 15.7 per game and Aly Gamez is next with 12.5. Townley leads the team on the glass with 8.0 boards per game. Gamez is pulling down 5.9 and Jaylen Mallard is averaging 5.6 as, again, North Texas has been getting a team effort in rebounding. The Mean Green averages 43.1 boards per game, third in C-USA.

North Texas leads the league in three-point percentage, hitting 33.6 percent from beyond the arc. Four players have double-digit three-pointers made this season with Noble leading the way with 21. Kendall McGruder has been accurate when taking her shots, hitting 11 of 25, good for 44.0 percent.

Head coach Jalie Mitchell is in her seventh season at the helm of her alma mater. Mitchell had her number 44 jersey retired on Senior Night in 2002 and remains the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,764 points.

For all of the latest information on the Marshall women's basketball team, follow the Herd on Twitter @HerdWBB, Facebook at Marshall University Basketball and on HerdZone.com.

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