MANHATTAN, Kan.  – North Texas was held to one field goal in the fourth quarter after outscoring Kansas State by five in the third in a 60-42 loss at Friday night inside Bramlage Coliseum as Callie Owens scored a team-high 13 points off of the bench.
 
The Mean Green (1-2, 0-0 C-USA), playing their second Big 12 opponent this week, tallied over half of their points from the reserves with Anisha George collecting half a dozen and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end as UNT tied the Wildcats (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) in the rebounding battle with 34.
 
"I'm proud of the way we battled rebounding," Head Coach Jalie Mitchell said. "We got some quality shots that we did not make and have to shoot the ball better. We have quality shooters and scorers. I hope we maintain our confidence."
 
Madison Townley grabbed a miss and placed it back in for the first Mean Green points of the night. The Wildcats then rattled off nine straight points to take an 11-2 lead four minutes into the contest. Terriell Bradley banked in a shot while being fouled and made the ensuing free throw, and Owens hit a 3-pointer to pull UNT to within four at the 3:37 mark. K-State closed the quarter by outscoring the UNT 8-2 for a 22-10 advantage.
 
Brittany Smith zipped a pass to Deja Terrell for a layup as the Wildcats kept a 23-12 lead at the start of the second quarter. Grace Goodhart sank a jumper from the left baseline, and Bradley hit one from the line as UNT faced a 27-15 deficit with six minutes until the half. A Mims floater over two defenders cut the margin to 32-21 with 18 seconds on the clock, but the Wildcats sank a three right before the buzzer for a 35-21 advantage.
 
George moved into the first five to begin the second half and did work with an early score underneath. Mims flipped a behind-the-back pass to Owens for a three, and Mims then made a jumper from the right baseline to close the gap to 41-31 midway through the third. Owens hit a pair of threes within the last minute as the Mean Green closed to within 46-37 at the end of the quarter.
 
"Callie was a real spark. When she was hot we made sure to get her the ball. The third quarter represents her getting hot," Mitchell said.
 
The Wildcats made two field goals in the first minute of the fourth to up their lead to 50-37 before Townley connected on a bucket in the lane at the 8:39 mark. The Mean Green went scoreless over the next three minutes until Terrell hit a free throw with K-State leading 53-40. Two more from the line turned out to be the last points for UNT while the Wildcats stretched the lead with two scores in the final minute.
 
The Mean Green travel to the Tiger Turkey Tipoff next week hosted by Pacific to face Wyoming Nov. 23 at 2:30 p.m. CST and North Dakota State Nov. 24 at 2:30 p.m.