Women’s strong season ends in WBI losing effort

Women’s strong season ends in WBI losing effort

In the final game of the year for the UNA women’s basketball team, the Lions come up just short to North Texas by a score of 53-56 in the semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational postseason tournament.

The game remained competitive throughout the entirety as neither team held a double digit lead at any point during the game. The largest lead of the game was held by North Texas at seven points in the second quarter.

The first quarter saw both teams trade baskets frequently as North Texas held the lead the entire quarter and were up 17-15 going into the second.

In the second quarter, both teams continued to keep the game close even with North Texas stretching their lead as high as seven at the 1:54 point. The Lions cut the lead down to three by the end of the half after Kenysha Coulson nailed two free throws at the 1:17 mark that maintained the score at 28-25.

The Lions battled in the third quarter, which led them to eventually go up by as much as three points following a basket by Ivy Wallen in the middle of the quarter. By the end of the quarter, North Texas had regained the lead 40-43 going into the fourth.

With 1:51 left in the game, Coulson hit two more free throws that had the Lions only down 52-51. Coulson then scored a layup with 59 seconds left on the clock that gave the Lions a late 53-52 lead but late game play by Madi Townley would give North Texas enough for the win. Townley grabbed a rebound that led to a layup by Terriell Bradley that had North Texas up 54-53 with 25 seconds left. Townley also scored the final two points at the free throw line that secured the win.

Wallen finished the game with 14 points while Coulson finished with 11 points and six rebounds for the Lions. Both Brittany Smith and Callie Owens finishes with 10 points while Townley scored seven for North Texas.

This game marks the end of the first Division I season for the UNA women’s basketball team. The team finished with a 21-9 overall record and a 10-6 ASUN conference record. The girls received a WBI postseason tournament bid and picked up two postseason wins against Georgia State and Southern Mississippi. With winning 21 games on the year, the girls have two back-to-back 20 or more win seasons.