Despite breakout performance from Tosin Mabodu, women’s basketball loses another winnable game

North Texas women’s basketball has been attempting to pick up momentum in its non-conference schedule after a rough start to the season. And despite a career day by junior forward Tosin Mabodu, the Mean Green (2-5) fell to the University of Tulsa 63-58 Saturday on the road.

North Texas struggled all afternoon from the field, shooting 33.3 percent. Mabodu, on the other hand, shot 87.5 percent from the floor, and grabbed 10 of the Mean Green’s 32 total rebounds. She was the only player in double figures, with 18 points, and the only player to shoot over 43 percent.

She did all of this in 23 minutes off the bench, and dragged the team back into the game in the fourth quarter.

“[I was] just being aggressive,” Mabodu said. “They weren’t really boxing out so I just attacked the glass.”

After ending the first quarter tied at nine, the Golden Hurricanes (3-5) simply began to hit shots while North Texas remained cold. The Mean Green were outscored 22-10 in the second quarter, which made the comeback efforts all the more challenging.

North Texas went 0-for-9 from three point-range in the first half, and could not buy a shot from beyond the arc.  They ended the game a dreadful 11.1 percent from deep, which included misses that could have closed the dficit.

“The second quarter is obviously where we lost the game,” Mitchell said. “I really think it was a matter of us just not putting the ball in the hole for some reason. I thought we got some great shots.”

The offense was cold until the fourth quarter, when Mabodu once again kept making plays to trim the lead to single digits, and often under five.

But a slow start combined with not getting shots to fall put the Mean Green behind the eight ball in a winnable game.

“It was all about just not making shots,” senior guard Candice Adams said. “We can’t be discouraged enough to keep from shooting, so it was just a matter of making those shots.”

The Mean Green were able to cut it to three with under 90 seconds left, but could not finish the rally, missing several shots down the stretch.

As one of the leaders on the team, Adams diagnosed just why the team was unable to pull of the rally from behind.

“We were trading baskets and leaving shooters open,” Adams said. “Cutting a lead down is all about stops. Stops and buckets.”

Mitchell has always preached intensity and discipline, and noted she was not satisfied with the team’s performance. North Texas is now 2-5 and has another game looming on Tuesday.

And Mitchell knows they need a win.

“I think there has to be an urgency for every possession to be a great possession in order to win games,” Mitchell said. “I hope that is what we learned from today. We need a win [on Tuesday].”

Next up: The Mean Green host Indiana University at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.