MCPHERSON, Kan. – A short-handed and battle-tested University of North Texas at Dallas women's basketball team claimed a 67-57 victory at Central Christian on Saturday afternoon. Both teams traveled from Dallas-Fort Worth after Thursday night conference games. The Trailblazers (3-7, 2-6 SAC) had eight players available and all saw action on the court with several earning season-highs in minutes played. Freshman Lauren Pete (Rockwall, Texas) made her first start on the campaign. A combined 53 fouls were called and had five players disqualified from the contest, including three on UNTD's side. Without leading scorer Skye Dugan and senior Eryka Patton (Hutchins, Texas) and sophomore De'Asia Johnson (Dallas, Texas) fouling out, the Trailblazers grinded out a team-wide triumph.
 
Even in limited action with 24 minutes, Patton displayed her presence in the stats as she led all players with 18 points, going 6-of-9 from the field and 6-for-7 at the free throw line. She added five rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
 
Sophomore Sanaa Murphy-Showers (Plano, Texas) tallied a season-high 12 points, which included a pair of three-pointers on three attempts. She neared a double-double with a season-most nine rebounds and added three assists and two steals. Both of her scoring and rebound totals were one off career-highs in 2023-24. Her top rebounding games each came against Central Christian.
 
Junior Kaylyn Minor (Garland, Texas) rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers with 10 points for a season-best. The forward added another top season total with eight rebounds, which included three on the offensive end.
 
Sophomore De'Asia Johnson (Dallas, Texas) shattered her personal-high in boards with 14, as she broke double figures for the first time in her career. Johnson had two other games this season with nine. She scored eight points, while Pete logged a collegiate-high nine.
 
UNT Dallas matched a season-high 50 rebounds, which both came in the team's Sooner Athletic Conference wins. The team was more effective on three-point selections with four makes in seven tries. The team shot 43.1 percent from the floor and went 19-for-29 at the free throw line. The Trailblazers held a 30-12 advantage on points in the paint.
 
There was never a juncture in the game that UNTD trailed or was tied once taking the lead on the first point points. Central Christian (2-9, 0-7 SAC) got on the board with a three from Charmayne Marshall and would pull within a point on different occasions. UNT Dallas went up 8-3, but would eventually see that sliced to 9-8 after a trey by Denia Miller. Patton found a pair of baskets and a triple from Pete pushed advantage to 16-8 just over five minutes into the contest. Pete had another basket afterwards to make it the largest lead of the game at that point at nine (16-7). The Tigers would slash the margin to three (20-17) at the end of the quarter thanks to a three at the buzzer by Amaleigh Mattison.
 
In the second quarter, Central Christian scored first to get the gap back to a point. Free throws were favorable to the Trailblazers' offense in the second stanza as they got nine of the 16 points in that frame. In the last three minutes before halftime, Senior Mya Bills (Rockwall, Texas) drilled a trifecta to make it an eight-point lead (34-26) and free throws got the spread to double-digits. UNTD went into the break ahead 36-29.
 
A 12-0 run in the third quarter extended the lead for the Trailblazers to their largest lead of the night at that time at 17 points (49-32). It was a methodical push with a trey by Murphy-Showers and the next seven points by Patton to increase the gap. The Tigers were held without a point until 3:42 and did not drop a field goal through the hoop until a minute and a half remained. The largest lead of the game had been 18 after two free throws by Pete, but the Tigers late push reduced the deficit to 53-42 at the end of the frame.
 
Murphy-Showers drained a trey and started a string of seven points to start the fourth by UNTD. Patton added two free throws and Johnson had an inside basket to stretch the margin to 60-42 with 6:41 left. The 18-point margin was the greatest lead of the game, and Central Christian worked to shrink the difference but never got beneath 10 points.
 
The Tigers were led by Marshall with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Chole Clevenger had eight points and 10 rebounds, while Cristina Laudan chipped in nine points and seven boards. Central Christian shot 21. 7 percent from the field, went 6-of-35 from three, and 21-for-32 at the free throw line. The team had 24 offensive rebounds and more on that end for the 44 total. The Tigers scored 17 points off turnovers and had 27 bench points.
 
UNT Dallas plays on Sunday at NCAA Division I Texas State University for an exhibition at 12:00 p.m. The Trailblazers return home after finals week to play Nelson on December 14 at Ellis Davis Field House. Tip-off is at 2:00 p.m.