UALR Falls to North Texas 68-65

Courtesy UALR Athletics Department

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Trojans overcame a 14-point halftime deficit and took a five-point lead in the second half, but it was not enough as UALR (11-4, 4-3 Sun Belt) fell to North Texas (5-10, 4-3) 68-65 Wednesday (Jan. 9) at the Jack Stephens Center.

UALR used a strong rebounding effort and bench production to rally on North Texas. The Trojans won the battle on the boards 41-32 and outscored the Mean Green reserves 35-23. North Texas responded by hitting 52.6 percent (10-19) behind the arc, including 71.4 percent (5-7) in the second half alone.

Sophomore Taylor Gault came off the bench to lead all scorers with 26 points and three blocks. Senior Janette Merriex and junior Taylor Ford both added 11 points while Ford dished out a game-best five assists. Junior Hannah Fohne contributed 10 boards.

For the Mean Green, Laura McCoy went 6-7 from three-point range for 23 points. Alexis Hyder added 17 while Loryn Goodwin came off the pine for 17. Hyder also added seven rebounds.

Down 40-29 with 14:49 remaining, the Trojans went on a 14-4 run to pull within one. Merriex started the spurt with a lay-up followed by freshman Morgan Bolton and Fohne splitting from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to seven. North Texas responded with a lay-up, but freshman Carolee Dillard raced down the court and found Merriex on the wing to cut the deficit to six. After North Texas hit a pair from the line, Gault added a jumper. Freshman Shanity James stole the ball on the ensuing defensive possession and threw it down the court. Ford caught up to the pass and streaked to the basket to pull UALR within 44-43 with 10:40 left.

McCoy hit from range to push the lead back to four for the visitors, but James and Merriex hit jumpers to tie the score for the first time in the game with 7:40 left.

After NT hit a lay-up, Fohne passed out of the post and found Merriex open on the left wing to give UALR its first lead. Gault added a jumper followed by UALR hitting 3-4 from the charity stripe to take a 55-50 advantage with 5:10 left, UALR’s largest lead of the game. Goodwin responded with five of her own for North Texas, completing the old-fashioned three followed by a pair from the line. Goodwin’s spurt started a 14-0 North Texas run as the visitors never trailed the rest of the way. During the run, North Texas hit 8-10 from the charity stripe in claiming the three-point win.

UALR fell in a 7-0 hole to begin the game and never trailed by less than three in the first half. Down by seven, Ford made a layup and Gault raced down the floor after a defensive rebound to bring UALR within 7-4 with 14:26 left in the frame. With North Texas holding a 19-13 lead, the visitors went on a 10-0 run to go up 29-13 with 2:25 left in the half.

The Trojans return to action Saturday when they host the Panthers of FIU. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. and can be seen either on the Sun Belt Network or on ESPN3.com.

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