A late offensive surge by North Texas prevented Erica Woods and her Marshall University Women’s Basketball teammates from gaining its first Conference USA win, as they fell, 63-50, at the Super Pit in Denton, Texas.
Marshall coach Matt Daniel put a new starting lineup on the floor, with Chukwuka Ezeigbo and Woods back in the first string, joining Leah Scott , AJ Johnson and Norrisha Victrum.
Woods went 1 for 3 from behind the Three Point Line for her 3 Points on the night, she also grabbed 3 Rebounds to go along with 2 Steals in 15 minutes of action.
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 North Texas 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 Marshall, as they committed 12 in the first half. Prior to this 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. North Texas found its largest lead of 15 with 1:55 left, the score 63-48. Two free throws by Suporia Dickens ended the game with Marshall down, 63-50.
Two North Texas 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. Marshall 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.
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