DRC NT Notebook men/womens BB, softball,

[OldTimer]

UNT notebook: Mean Green to face No. 1 UCLA

08:17 AM CST on Wednesday, March 10, 2004

The North Texas softball team will face perhaps its biggest challenge of the season when the Mean Green takes on top-ranked UCLA in the Hendrick’s Howell Chevrolet Classic on Friday.

The Bruins improved to 21-0 with a pair of shutout wins over Nevada (3-0) and Cal Poly (4-0) on Sunday.

"Anytime you have the chance to play the defending national champion its good," UNT coach Stacey Segal said. "The game will be a learning experience for us."

UNT has played an aggressive schedule in its first season since 1988, one that includes teams from the Big 12, SEC, Big 10 and Pac 10 conferences.

UCLA is one six teams UNT will face in the Hedrick’s Hallowell Chevrolet Classic. Segal called the tournament the toughest UNT will play in this season.

The Mean Green appears to be adjusting to the level of competition it has faced throughout the season. UNT knocked off Oklahoma State earlier this month and also beat UTEP on Saturday.

UNT is hoping a schedule that includes a game against No. 1 UCLA will make the competition in the Sun Belt Conference seem easy by comparison.

"We are getting better every game we play," Segal said. "We played well and got a big win against Oklahoma State. We are looking forward to the beginning of conference play."

UNT will open league play April 10 at Florida International.

Basketball

UNT men look to rebuild, women return standouts

A season filled with promise came to an abrupt end for the North Texas men’s basketball team on Sunday, leaving the Mean Green with a rebuilding project for next season.

UNT entered the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on a roll, having won two of its last three games, but fell short in double overtime to New Orleans, 91-89, at E.A. Diddle Arena, in Bowling Green, Ky., in the first round. The UNT women also lost their opening round game to Middle Tennessee, 81-66, on Sunday.

"We came a long way since December," UNT men’s coach Johnny Jones said. "We made great strides to get into the tournament and played well toward the end of the season. We hope it is something we can build on."

The Mean Green will begin its rebuilding project without three starters who played their last game in the tournament, including third-team All-Sun Belt selection Shawnson Johnson.

The 6-9 forward set a Sun Belt Tournament record with 21 rebounds and tied another with eight blocks against New Orleans. UNT will also lose starting point guard Jerome Rogers and forward Michael DeGrate.

All three starters finished the season averaging double figures in scoring and led the Mean Green to a 13-15 record.

Johnson played just 23 games with UNT after transferring from LSU, but made a big impact. He blocked 69 shots, shattering the school single-season record of 53 set by Thomas Gipson in the 1991-92 season.

Johnson sat out the first five games of the season to fulfill NCAA transfer rules before coming back to average 11.2 points a game. Rogers added 10.3 points a game, while DeGrate came on at the end of the season to average 10.1 points a game.

While UNT lost several key players, the Mean Green will return Leonard Hopkins, the team’s leading scorer who averaged 14 points a game.

The UNT women will also lose one of their top players in Kim Blanton after finishing with an 11-17 record. The senior forward averaged 11.6 points a game and finished just outside of the top 10 in both career points and rebounds at UNT.

The Lady Eagles will return the rest of their major contributors, including junior guard Jill Medlock, who averaged 10.9 points a game, and sophomore forward Jamie Armstrong, who averaged 10.2 points a game.

Medlock hit four 3-point shots in UNT’s loss to Middle Tennessee to push her season total to 61, breaking the school record of 60 set by Ashley Norris in the 1995-96 season.

Armstrong scored 19 points in UNT’s loss to Middle Tennessee, while Medlock added 12.

Point guard Erika Bobo will return for her third season as UNT’s starting point guard. Freshman post player Mia Ajekwu will also be back after starting in her first year playing for the Lady Eagles.

UNT has already signed three players who will join the team next season.

Erica Howard, a 6-3 post player from Morrilton, Ark., 6-2 forward Amber Jackson and point guard Amanda Quattrocchi of Indianapolis, Ind., form what UNT coach Tina Slinker characterized the group as one of the team’s best recruiting classes in recent years.

"I feel pretty good about where we will start next year," Slinker said. "We are returning most of our players who will all have more experience next season. One of the reasons we didn’t win some games was because we were a young team."

Football

Awasom, Brewster named to watch list for Lombardi

Defensive end Adrian Awasom and center Andy Brewster have been named to the watch list for the 2004 Rotary Lombardi Award, which goes to the nation’s top lineman.

A total of 54 players were named to the list.

Brewster and Awasom were both named first-team All-Sun Belt Conference last season. Steve Subia, an offensive lineman from New Mexico State, is the only other player from the Sun Belt Conference on the Lombardi Award watch list.

Brewster helped clear the way for running back Patrick Cobbs to win the national rushing title with an average of 152.7 yards a game.

Awasom finished with 44 tackles and four sacks.

"When there are only 54 players nominated for UNT to have two is a statement for our program and a sign of the respect people across the country have for those two guys," UNT coach Darrell Dickey said.

Player of the week

Shawnson Johnson made his short time with the North Texas men’s basketball team a memorable one.

The 6-9 senior grabbed a Sun Belt Conference Tournament record 21 rebounds and tied another tournament record with eight blocked shots in the Mean Green’s 91-89 double overtime loss to New Orleans in the first round of the league tournament on Sunday.

Johnson also scored 10 points and fell just short of a triple-double.

Johnson finished the season with 69 blocks, shattering the school record of 53 set by Thomas Gipson in the 1991-92 season. Johnson sat out the first semester of the school year while fulfilling NCAA transfer rules and reached the mark in just 23 games.

Johnson was also named third-team All-Sun Belt Conference.

For his efforts, Johnson is the Denton Record-Chronicle’s UNT Player of the Week.

Athlete profile

Full name: Heather DeNeece Bostic

Nickname: Bostic

High school (city and state): Mustang (Mustang, Okla.)

Born (and where): March 17, 1985 (Oklahoma City)

Family (with ages): sister Tiffany, 19; brother Christopher, 16, brother Andrew, 15

Sport, statistics: Softball, .296, four runs, seven RBIs

Major: Recreational and Leisure Studies

When I graduate, I plan to: Coach softball

If I could get four tickets to any sporting event in the world, it would be: The Super Bowl

Three people I would take to the event, living or dead, would be: Patrick, Roy and Ana

My favorite sports movie is: Gladiator, it gets me pumped up before games

My favorite pro sports team is: The Green Bay Packers

The person who most influenced my life is: My dad

The best summer I ever spent was: 2003 at the AFA National Tournament when we finished third

If I was not going to school at UNT, I would be: Playing softball at another school

My goal for this year is to: Win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament

My dream for this year is to: Have a high GPA

If I could say one thing in the newspaper, it would be: Go Mean Green!

7-day slate

The following events are on top in the next week at UNT.

THURSDAY – Football spring game, Fouts Field, 7 p.m.; *Softball vs. Oregon State, 3 p.m., tennis at TCU, 2 p.m.

FRIDAY – *Softball vs. UCLA, 11 a.m.; *softball vs. Fresno State, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY – *Softball vs. San Diego State, 1 p.m.; *softball vs. Long Beach State, 5 p.m.

SUNDAY — *Softball vs. Utah, 11 a.m.

MONDAY – Tennis at Florida International, 2 p.m.

TUESDAY – Tennis at Florida Atlantic, 2 p.m.