DALLAS, Texas – University of North Texas at Dallas dropped its first home game of the season at Ellis Davis in a 68-59 final against Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon. Senior Skye Dugan (Richardson, Texas) bounced back from a tough conference opener and was back to reaching double figures in scoring with a personal-best 29 points.
 
The Trailblazers (1-3, 0-2 SAC) opened with a strong first quarter that included an 8-3 lead through the midway point of the frame. Six straight points put the Stars on top, but a trey from sophomore De'Asia Johnson (Dallas, Texas) flipped the score back in favor of UNTD. Leads traded sides again, but the last four points came for the Trailblazers as Dugan got a steal and fastbreak layup with 42 seconds left and then a late layup by sophomore Sanaa Murphy-Showers (Plano, Texas) lifted them to a 15-13 advantage. It was the only quarter that UNTD outscored the Stars.
 
Most of the second quarter was a close contest between the squads, as the Trailblazers maintained a narrow lead past the five-minute juncture. This quarter had the Stars tie the score five times. Oklahoma City (2-3, 1-0 SAC) scored the final eight points to go ahead 32-26 at halftime.
 
In the third quarter, the visitors stretched the lead to as many as 12 (42-30) with three minutes remaining in the stanza. Back-to-back triples from Dugan and senior Mya Bills (Rockwall, Texas) highlighted a 13-2 surge as the deficit was snipped to a point (44-3) with under a minute to go. OCU split at the free throw line in the last ten seconds to lead by two entering the final quarter.
 
Oklahoma City pushed back out to a near double-digit advantage in the first part of the last quarter and were able to secure the triumph, as the last 10 minutes favored them by seven points.
 
Dugan had four-made threes and tallied nine free throws as part of her high-scoring game. She also had six steals for a season-high output for any Trailblazer. Johnson contributed nine points and four rebounds. Senior Eryka Patton (Hutchins, Texas) registered her fourth game with double-digits in rebounds with this one being a team-high 10.
 
UNTD held an advantage in second chance points, 11-9. The team swiped 11 steals for a new game-high as a unit. The team also made seven three-pointers for a new game-high for the team on the year.
 
Oklahoma City was led by Amaya Gordon with 21 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Jerzie Bryant followed with 14 points, and Jerney Bennett nearly earned a double-double of her own with 13 points and nine rebounds. She also had four blocks and two steals.
 
UNT Dallas wraps up a busy conference stretch with its third game in five days. The Trailblazers are at Texas Wesleyan on Monday, November 18th. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.