DRC exciting start to season for NT women

[OldTimer]

Brett Vito: Exciting start to season for UNT women

08:12 AM CST on Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Brett Vito

Mian Williams hadn’t given the score much thought in the early stages of North Texas’ game against its chief rival for the Sun Belt Conference West Division title on Saturday.

The scrappy little shooting guard just focused on what the Mean Green have quickly become know for this year – guarding everyone in sight. Williams fought and scratched and clawed.

It wasn’t until just before the halftime buzzer when Williams snuck a peak to see how the Mean Green were faring against Louisiana-Lafayette. The senior was stunned by what she saw.

“Right before the half, I looked and we had a 17-point lead,” Williams said. “They are a good team, but we got a lot out of all our players. We are still excited about it today.”

That excitement is based on what UNT considers a statement that it will be a force to be reckoned with in the Sun Belt this season. UNT didn’t just beat UL-Lafayette, it pounded the Ragin’ Cajuns 70-47 at Earl K. Long Gym.

UL-Lafayette had the nation’s fifth-longest home court winning streak at 22 games before running into the Mean Green.

UNT had a few solid wins in non-conference play, including victories at home over UTEP and SMU of Conference USA and its first-ever win over Stephen F. Austin. A victory over UL-Lafayette was the biggest of the bunch because it sent a message to the rest of the Sun Belt that UNT is back to its form of a few years ago when the Mean Green went to the WNIT in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

“I would hope this is a statement game for us,” UNT coach Tina Slinker said. “Those are the types of games that championship teams win. It’s not only what’s in your mind it’s what’s in their mind. Maybe if Western [Kentucky] and Middle [Tennessee] see the score from that game, they will think that we are pretty good.”

It’s hard to imagine how anyone could come to another conclusion after the Mean Green dominated a game between the teams picked to finish at the top of the SBC West Division.

UNT was the pick to win the division title over the defending champion Ragin’ Cajuns.

Both UNT and UL-Lafayette came into the night with 11-2 records, and it was the Mean Green that dominated. UNT out-rebounded ULL 49-34, limited the Ragin’ Cajuns to 30 percent shooting from the field and gave up just 15 points in the first half.

The outcome was all the more surprising because the Ragin’ Cajuns seemed to have every advantage heading into the night. UNT was not only playing in foreign territory, it also was without senior Erika Bobo for part of the night.

The Mean Green’s second-leading scorer was sick and finished with six points in 24 minutes.

UNT never missed a beat thanks to Sanetra Jackson. The freshman came in to score 10 points, grab six rebounds and help maintain UNT’s defense that is allowing an average of 57.6 points a game, a total that ranks third in the Sun Belt.

“I told the players that that’s how far away we are from first place, and that’s a long ways away,” UL-Lafayette coach J. Kelley Hall told The Daily Advertiser of Lafayette, La., after the game. “It’s very disappointing. The game was between the two best teams in the Sun Belt, and we were not ready.”

UNT’s win over UL-Lafayette pushed the Mean Green to 12-2, its best record though 14 games in school history. Two more wins and the Mean Green will match their win total from all of last season.

Of the 20 Division I basketball teams in Texas, only defending national champion Baylor is off to a better start at 11-1.

There is a chance UNT could quickly slide back down that list of the state’s most successful programs. Six of UNT’s last 13 games are on the road. Games with traditional Sun Belt powers MTSU and WKU still loom. The conference tournament will be played on MTSU’s home court in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The UNT men found that how quickly the tide can turn when they dropped a home game to New Orleans last week after upsetting the UL-Lafayette men, who are picked to win the SBC West.

UNT is starting to look more and more like a team that will avoid that fate by following the example Williams set against UL-Lafayette. The Mean Green don’t plan on letting up until they can look up at the scoreboard and in the ledger at their record secure in the knowledge that they are among the Sun Belt’s elite.

“We don’t want to get comfortable, we want to just keep getting better and continue to win,” junior post Mia Ajekwu said. “We definitely still feel that hunger.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com