DENTON — The North Texas women’s basketball team is in the middle of a three-game stretch where they are playing teams they lost to last season — SMU, Tulsa and Indiana.

On Wednesday the Mean Green took care of the Mustangs with a 47-40 win at home. 

UNT hosts Tulsa at 3 p.m. on Saturday looking to accomplish its second straight revenge game.

“We let all three of these games get away from us last year,” said junior guard Grace Goodhart. “We’ve put a lot of importance on these games. We have another chance. We need to make the most of these second opportunities.”

The Mean Green (5-1) fell 63-58 to the Golden Hurricane last season in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

After a low scoring first quarter by both teams, North Texas fell way behind in the second quarter and trailed 31-19 at halftime. 

The Mean Green closed the gap in the second half and trailed by just three points in the final minute but the early deficit proved to be too great.

“We need a better start,” Goodhart said. “We spent the entire game last year fighting back trying to win. A better start is imperative.”

Saturday’s game versus Tulsa is just one day from being exactly a year to the day from when they previous met.

But a lot has changed in a year. 

Prior to last season’s game at Tulsa the Mean Green owned a 2-4 record, were giving up an average of 65 points per game and opponents were shooting 42 percent from the field.

Now, UNT is off to its best start in 12 years with its 5-1 record and are just one possession away from being undefeated.

They own the nation’s best defense, limiting opponents to 30.5 percent shooting while only giving up 46 points per game.

“We’ve all bought into the idea that defense wins championships,” said Goodhart who has nine steals in the Mean Green’s six games. “We know that we can be a real problem when we play great defense.”

In it’s entirety, UNT has played a total of 1,162 games and have held a team to 40 or fewer points nine times.

Three of those nine times have come this year and five have come since Jalie Mitchell became head coach in 2015. 

“It’s this team’s identity,” Goodhart said. “We focus every game on playing our absolute best defense.” 

North Texas enters Saturday’s game on three-game winning streak while Tulsa (3-4) has lost its last two games and averaged just 47 points in the two games combined.

The Mean Green have done a good job containing the opposing team’s leading scorer. Saturday, UNT will need to limit the Golden Hurricane’s 5-foot-9 guard Shug Dickson who is averaging 15.1 points per game on 35 percent shooting.