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UNT Dallas

WBB Photo Recap vs. North American
Photo Courtesy of Candice Nichols
80
Winner North American NORTH AM 7-0, 5-0
76
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 4-3, 3-2
Winner
North American NORTH AM
7-0, 5-0
80
Final
76
UNT Dallas UNT DALL
4-3, 3-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
North American NORTH AM 20 24 15 21 80
UNT Dallas UNT DALL 19 19 22 16 76

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | nathanyacovissi

Positives Drawn as Trailblazers Close a Difficult Week with Unbeaten North American

CEDAR HILL, Texas – It was a high-pace and back-and-forth thriller for University of North Texas at Dallas women's basketball and North American University on Saturday afternoon at Trinity Leadership Public School. Playing a third time in four days (UNT Dallas was at NCAA DI Texas State on Wednesday for an exhibition), the Trailblazers were unable to overcome a season-high 32 turnovers and could not get enough shots to fall despite many opportunities in an 80-76 setback.
 
UNT Dallas still drew several positives from the game, as the early outlook on the season is much brighter for a team sitting 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Red River Athletic Conference. Being able to maintain the pace with a quick, dynamic team like NAU that remains unbeaten at 7-0 and 5-0 in the conference after playing for a lot of minutes in a short span of time.
 
The Trailblazers were called for 27 fouls with two guards disqualified during the game and were without as much depth as they have had. Kayden Riley (Dallas, Texas) made her first start. Freshmen Channing Beauvais (Paradise, Texas) Sophia Fisher (Taylor, Texas) had to log a lot of minutes from the bench. Riley and Beauvais chipped in 11 points each for season-highs and had two blocks each. Beauvais grabbed a personal-best seven rebounds.
 
De'Asia Johnson (Dallas, Texas) paced the Trailblazers with her second double-double in the past three games with 17 points and 13 boards. She came up with two steals and a block, while going 5-for-5 at the free throw line. Even with an off shooting day (6-19 FG, 0-7 3FG), Johnson proved to be an impact player and had several big plays that brought UNTD back in the game and had few moments that a different result likely changes the outcome.
 
Johnson, Riley, and Beauvais were part of a quintet that scored double figures for UNTD. Jade Myles (Dallas, Texas) contributed 12 points, while Sanaa Murphy-Showers (Plano, Texas) added 10. ShanDrea Yeldell (Dallas, Texas) scored eight points but was a team leader in assists and steals with five.
 
The Trailblazers held a 19-11 edge on second chance points and 40-34 edge on points in the paint, while NAU got after it on the fastbreak with a 12-9 edge in points from that.
 
North American shot 44.1 percent (26-59) from the field, 5-of-14 from three (35.7 percent), and 23-for-34 at the free throw line. The Stallions rode off with 21 steals and were led by Savannah Velazquez with a double-double of 21 points and 11 rebounds with four steals. Jerkayla Dickey added 14 points, seven rebounds, and five steals, which tied Akyra Hodges with the same game-high amount of steals. Aliyah Solis had 16 points, to give four of the starting 5 a combined 61 points.
 
Both teams committed over 30 turnovers (32 UNTD, 31 NAU), as both teams played an aggressive and up-tempo style.
 
UNT Dallas got off to a slow start again on this home stand, allowing seven points in under a minute. Riley got the Trailblazers on the board over two minutes into action and made it a 7-2 score. The Stallions moved to a 10-4 score with three minutes elapsed, but six straight points including a made trey by Yeldell knotted the score at 10 at the midway juncture of the quarter. The Stallions went in front momentarily, but Johnson's pair of free throws at 2:49 put UNT Dallas on top for the first time of the contest. It was short lived as NAU got two more baskets. A trifecta by Myles leveled the score at 17. Riley scored a layup to switch the lead back to UNTD with a minute left. The Stallions got the final basket of the quarter to go up 20-19.
 
A steal by Yeldell led to a Johnson fastbreak layup to trade the lead to start the second quarter. Johnson had an offensive rebound and layup putback to make it a 23-20 lead through two minutes of the stanza. A 7-0 run lifted the Stallions back in front by four points with six and a half minutes remaining before intermission. Both sides kept at it, as a triple by Yeldell tied the affair at 30 with 5:14 left. Kaylin Minor (Garland, Texas) and Riley kept the score tied with 32 and 34, respectively. UNTD tied the game 10 ties out of the 11 total in the contest. A 10-1 run pushed the Stallions ahead by nine points (44-35) with a minute and a half. Riley had a jumper end the run with a minute left and Fisher split at the free throw line for her first point since scoring two in her collegiate debut in the season opener against Science and Arts on November 1. UNT Dallas trailed at halftime, 44-38, but remained within reach.
 
The third frame started with UNTD getting two free throws by Myles and then a layup by Johnson to slash the margin to two points. It was a seesaw as the teams spread the gap from six points to two points most of the quarter. With 4:33 left and down five (54-49), Johnson and Myles notched the next four points and a pair of free throws by Murphy-Showers changed the lead to UNTD, 55-54, with 3:12 left. Teams exchanged leads down the stretch, with Murphy-Showers putting UNTD up 60-59 to close the quarter at the line.
 
It was back-and-forth to start the final quarter, but a layup and jumper by Velazquez for North American changed the tide of the game the final seven minutes. Solis added a layup with five and a half minutes left ot make it 71-66 and finished a 6-0 swing. Beauvais countered with an old fashioned three-point play, and the Trailblazers came within two points twice down to the final buzzer. Murphy-Showers hit a corner trey with 27 seconds left to make it 78-66, but not enough results like that happened for the Trailblazers in this game.
 
UNT Dallas enjoys a break after the busy play and finals week at school before taking off for two big road games that close the 2025 calendar year. The Trailblazers are at Texas A&M-Texarkana on Dec. 18 (5:30 p.m.) and LSU-Shreveport on Dec. 20 (1:00 p.m.)
 
 
 
 
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