MOBILE, Ala. (2/25/06) The North Texas women’s basketball team (19-8, 9-6) defeated South Alabama (14-13, 8-7) 60-39 on Saturday at the Mitchell Center to claim the Sun Belt Conference West Division title.

Mia Ajekwu scored 18 of her career-high 24 points in the second half, which was dominated by the Mean Green.  North Texas led just 27-21 at halftime, but outscored the Jaguars 33-18 over the final 20 minutes to claim its second SBC West Division title over the last five years.

“I was really proud of the way that we came out and responded in a pressure situation tonight,” said North Texas head coach Tina Slinker.  “This was a great win for our team.”

North Texas led 34-28 with 15 minutes remaining, but went on a 7-0 run to open up a double-figure lead and extended it to as much as 21 points, the final margin.

The Mean Green hit 39 percent of its shots in the second half, while holding the Jaguars to a .172 percentage over the games final half.  NT also finished with 10 more rebounds (44-34),10 more assists (17-7) and three more steals (7-4) than the Jaguars for the entire game.

Ajekwu narrowly missed a double-double, pulling down nine rebounds to go along with her game-high point total.  Erika Bobo also finished with nine rebounds and added 13 points as the only other NT player to score in double digits.

South Alabama was led by Whitney Woodard with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

North Texas will be the No. 1 seed out of the West Division in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament, scheduled for March 3-7.  The Mean Green will receive a first-round bye before playing the winner of the No.4 East/No. 5 West game on Saturday, March 4, at 5 p.m.