Miami , Fla. (1/19/04)- For the second consecutive game the North Texas (6-9, 2-1) women’s basketball team held on to win at the buzzer, this time over Florida International (8-9, 2-2) 55-53 from Golden Panther Arena. The Mean Green, leading by two points with 6.3 seconds remaining, came up with a defensive stop as the Golden Panthers were unable to get a final shot off before the final horn.
“This is a huge win for us tonight. Our defense put us in a position to win tonight and we were able to come up with the big defensive stop when we needed it,” said North Texas head coach Tina Slinker. “Offensively we struggled but for us to come in here and win in a low scoring game is a credit to our defense tonight”.
FIU raced out to an early 18-10 lead in the first half but the Mean Green went on a 14-4 run to take a 24-22 lead with 3:22 left in the first half. The two teams went into the break tied at the half at 27-27. The Golden Panthers opened up a four-point lead at 39-35 at the 13:10 mark of the second half before North Texas went on a 9-0 run keyed by two back-to-back 3-point baskets by Kelsie Edwards and Mian Williams. North Texas held a 44-39 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the second half.
The Mean Green extended their lead to six points at 55-49 with 1:14 left when FIU made one final run. The Golden Panthers cut the Mean Green to lead to just two at 55-53 with 44 seconds remaining but were unable to get any closer thanks to a stifling North Texas defense in the final minute of play.
North Texas was led by Jill Medlock with 12 points and the play of sophomore point guard Erika Bobo. Bobo ended the night with 10 points on five of six shooting but also had two steals and forced four FIU turnovers.
“Erika really played some great defense for us tonight. She played the entire court for us on the defensive end,” Slinker said.
North Texas has now won two straight road games for the first time since the 2002 season and will return home for a two-game home stand starting with Arkansas-Little Rock on Thursday January 22.
