MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – North Texas women's basketball trailed Middle Tennessee by four points entering the fourth quarter, but a 14-1 Lady Raider run to open the final period was too much to overcome for the Mean Green in a 61-46 loss Saturday inside the Murphy Center. 
 
Anisha George posted her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Terriell Bradley scored a team-best 13 points. The Mean Green (10-9, 3-4 C-USA) made a season-low 14 field goals on 49 tries, but performed well at the free throw line by sinking 15-of-18. After committing 12 turnovers in the first half, UNT took better care of the ball after halftime and gave up only three.
 
"We needed to do a much better job defensively of making adjustments," head coach Jalie Mitchell said. "We went back and forth the entire first half. We got the same looks in the third quarter but just didn't finish. We needed to attack more, and I thought we did that in the fourth quarter."
 
With two minutes to play in the third quarter, Charlene Shepherd kept the Mean Green within a pair on two occasions, first on a pass from George across the paint and then by way of a jumper from the left side as North Texas trailed, 32-30. The Lady Raiders (16-5, 7-1 C-USA) hit two from the line before Brittany Smith connected from the left baseline with 39 seconds remaining in the quarter. MTSU answered with a score in the paint to go ahead, 36-32, leading into the fourth.
 
The Lady Raiders opened the final quarter with a layup and a 3-pointer to push the lead to 41-33. Shepherd hit one-of-two from the line before MTSU scored nine straight to extend their advantage to 50-33 at the 5:36 mark. The Mean Green went without a field goal for nearly seven minutes in the fourth quarter before Velma Mitchell made a 3 from the left wing. 
 
Both teams struggled at the start of the contest by shooting a collective 5-of-27 from the field in the opening quarter. With the game tied at 6-6 after nine minutes of play, MTSU drained a three before the buzzer to go up by three.
 
Mitchell and Bradley each connected on a 3-pointer to give North Texas a 12-9 edge three minutes into the second quarter, but the Lady Raiders answered with a 3 of their own. Bradley handed the Mean Green the lead at 18-17 on a putback, but MTSU scored the final bucket of the half to take a 19-18 edge.
 
A 3-pointer by the Lady Raiders put the home team up, 26-22, but Bradley converted a jumper in the lane to cut the deficit in half midway through the third quarter. Smith found George with a bounce pass in the paint to keep it a two-point game until MTSU hit two free throws.
 
The Mean Green return home to host Old Dominion Jan. 31 at 7 p.m.