GOODWELL, Okla. – University of North Texas at Dallas women's basketball captured a 64-50 victory at Oklahoma Panhandle State on Saturday afternoon at Anchor D Arena. The Trailblazers (2-5, 1-4 SAC) took command of the game with a 25-14 second quarter and never trailed the rest of the way. The victory was the first in Sooner Athletic Conference play and snapped a four-game losing streak.
The top scoring trio on the campaign all delivered strong performances in the win led by senior
Eryka Patton (Hutchins, Texas) with 19 points. She missed her third straight double-double by one rebound and matched a personal-best three blocks on the season, both coming this past week. Patton has been the team's leading scorer in each game of this road swing and missed having a seven-game streak in double-digits on the glass.
Another major contributor on the day was sophomore
De'Asia Johnson (Dallas, Texas) with a career-high 17 points and matched Patton on the boards with nine of them, as she also just missed a double-double. Johnson had four offensive rebounds and matched a season-high six field goals. She made a season-most five free throws and missed just one at the line. Senior
Skye Dugan (Richardson, Texas) chipped in 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Dugan has scored double figures in six-of-seven contests.
With just eight players on the road trip, the Trailblazers worked to pace themselves in this game. Dugan got the first points to open the game with a trifecta and UNTD never trailed. There were three times that Oklahoma Panhandle State (1-6, 1-3 SAC) tied the game in the first half. Twice in the opening quarter, the Aggies tied things at 10 with 1:20 left and Dugan got a layup and then a steal that led to another quick basket. OPSU answered with the final four points in the last 30 seconds to level the score at 14 after a period.
It took a minute and a half in the second quarter for either side to net a basket and Patton got the go-ahead layup. After the final tie occurred at 16-16, Patton put the Trailblazers up for good the rest of the way. Junior
Kaylyn Minor (Garland, Texas) added a layup to make it a two-possession game. OPSU got a jumper to make it back within two points, and then a 8-0 run that was powered by six points in a row by Dugan helped orchestrate a 10-point (28-18) lead for the Trailblazers with 4:49 remaining before intermission. With around three minutes to play, Johnson got a layup and steal that led to Patton drawing a foul and making both free throws to stretch the biggest lead of the night at that juncture to 14 (36-22). Sides traded points in the final two minutes and UNTD led 39-28 at halftime, its biggest lead at the break this season.
The 25 points matched the most points scored in a single quarter this season. The Trailblazers also had 25 points in the third quarter against Oklahoma Wesleyan, which was their other triumph this campaign. Patton had 13 points in the second quarter.
The third quarter played even for the duration of the 10 minutes, as OPSU held an 11-10 edge in points that frame. With a little over a minute left, the Aggies nipped the deficit to six points (45-39, but Johnson scored the final four points for the Trailblazers and sent the gap back to double-digits.
In the final quarter, the Trailblazers rushed the lead up to as many as 17 points (58-41) by the midpoint of the quarter and were in control the rest of the game. Teams traded triples, as UNTD's sophomore
Sanaa Murphy-Showers countered a Molly Jones trey to keep the gap at 17 points (61-44). The closest margin the rest of the game was 13 points with 2:15 remaining, and senior
Mya Bills (Rockwall, Texas) had a key jumper and Murphy-Showers hit one-for-two at the free throw line for the final UNTD points. A layup in the final 17 seconds by the Aggies led to the final score line.
UNTD held a 15-11 advantage on points off turnovers, while both teams had 30 points in the paint and four fast break points. The team grabbed a season-high 50 rebounds, which included a team-most on the campaign 19 offensive rebounds. The 13 turnovers committed was the fewest on the year.
Oklahoma Panhandle State was led by Lyric Carpenter with 13 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Zamari Reece and Jones contributed eight points each and Zamari tied a team-high three assists.
The Trailblazers improved to 7-0 overall against Oklahoma Panhandle State and the psst two meetings in Goodwell have been by a 14-point margin. The previous meeting on the road there was determined by 15 points.
UNT Dallas wraps up a four-game road trip before Thanksgiving and third game in six days with a game on Tuesday at University of Science and Arts. Tip-off is at 6:00 p.m.
