Women's Hoops Can't Handle WKU Guard Combo In Loss
Acheil Tac Gets Sixth Double-Double In 65-53 Loss To Toppers
Junior guard Candice Adams led North Texas with 15 points on Saturday. (Photo by Rick Yeatts)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- The North Texas women's basketball team rolled into the Bluegrass State with hopes of knocking off one of Conference USA's hottest teams. But 40 minutes wasn't enough for the Mean Green to spoil a WKU win streak that extended to 11 games following a 65-53 North Texas loss on Saturday.
WKU's Kendall Noble - entering the afternoon only 27 points away from joining the Toppers' 1,000 points club - took over the contest from Diddle Arena, dropping a career-high 31 points to lead all scorers. She was followed by guard Tashia Brown, who had 18 points and five assists on the night. Together, the two combined for 49 of the Toppers' 65 points on the day.
"I don't think that we guarded Noble at all tonight," head coach Jalie Mitchell said. "All of her looks were open and if they weren't open we were putting her on the free throw line. Brown got just above her average but I thought we let Noble have too good of a night."
North Texas trailed by nine at halftime, but the third quarter is where WKU took a double-digit lead that proved to be the difference-maker. Overall, the Toppers outscored the Mean Green 19-9 in the third, behind 15 combined points from Noble and Brown, one of the more dominant offensive duos in C-USA.
On the day, North Texas had 19 turnovers that resulted in 20 points for the Toppers. At that point, a slow-paced and methodical WKU offense made it hard for the Mean Green to crawl back from the deficit. The home team had only nine turnovers on the day.
Junior Candice Adams led all North Texas scorers with 15 points, including 12 that came off shots from 3-point range. Senior Acheil Tac had a dominant day on the glass, pulling down 18 boards to go with 10 points for her sixth double-double of the season.
North Texas pulled the double-digit deficit to eight points in the game's final moments, but that was the closest the Mean Green would get to a comeback in the last contest of a three-game road trip.
"I'm pleased with our ability to not give up," Mitchell said. "We continued to fight and that's a testament to who we are. I thought we had a chance in this game when everyone thought we were out and it just didn't go our way."
What's Next
The Mean Green returns home next week for three games from the Super Pit. North Texas kicks off the home stand with a 7 p.m. matchup against Middle Tennessee on Thursday, Jan. 21.
Quick Hits
• Acheil Tac's double-double gives her six on the year and two in back-to-back games. That total is good for third in C-USA. She now has 13 double-doubles on her career.
• Tac's 18 rebounds set a new season high and fell one board short of tying her career-best mark.
• Candice Adams is now tied for ninth place on NT's all-time 3-pointers made list. With 75 in her career, she matches Tamara Torru (2008-12). Earlier in the night she bypassed Yari Escalera (2007-09), who was formerly No. 10 on the list with 74 made threes.
• Adams's tied a career high with four 3-pointers, a mark she set in the first game of the season against San Francisco.
• The 12-point loss becomes the biggest for the Mean Green this season.
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