Lady Eagles drop heartbreaker at North Texas, 57-55
DENTON, Texas – North Texas scored a basket with just .4 seconds remaining in defeating Southern Miss 57-55 in Conference USA action Saturday.
Southern Miss drops to 14-13 overall and 7-9 in league play while North Texas improves to 10-16 and 5-11.
“I think we played hard in segments,” Lady Eagle head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. “Probably as hard as we did at Rice if not harder."
Caitlin Jenkins recorded a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds to lead Southern Miss. Shayla Wilson added 10 points.
Southern Miss got off to a quick start in running out to a 9-2 lead seven minutes into the quarter. North Texas answered with back-to-back threes in cutting the lead to one. The teams traded baskets in ending the quarter with Southern Miss leading 13-10.
The Mean Green opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 19-13 lead. The Lady Eagles had a 4:27 scoring drought in the process. Southern Miss then scored six unanswered points to tie the game at 19-19. North Texas pushed its lead back to five with a three and layup before Tajanay Veiga converted on a three-point play. The Mean Green led 28-25 at the half.
North Texas opened the third quarter using a 9-4 run in taking a seven-point advantage. Veiga then sparked a 9-2 run, connecting on a pair of free throws to tie the game at 39-39. The quarter ended in a 41-41 tie.
The Lady Eagles scored the first four points to start the final period. North Texas cut the lead to one after a free throw and basket. Jenkins then hit back-to-back baskets to give Southern Miss a 49-44 lead with 4:54 remaining. The Mean Green answered with eight unanswered points to take a 52-49 lead.
The teams traded baskets on three possessions before North Texas made one of two free throws with 17 seconds remaining before Jewett-Giles tied the game at 55-55 with four seconds to go. On the final possession, a wide open Acheil Tac scored the basket for North Texas as time expired.
"The number one reason why we lost today was turnovers," Lee-McNelis said. "North Texas did a tremendous job of getting out on us and overplaying and denying. We didn’t handle it very well, so you have to say hats off to their defense.”
Kelsey Criner led North Texas with 18 points while Tac had 14 and Terra Ellison added 12 points. Criner and Ellison had six rebounds each.
Southern Miss returns home to host WKU and Marshall in the final home games of the regular season. The WKU game is set for 6 p.m. Thursday with Marshall at 4 p.m. Saturday.