Women’s Basketball Looks to Extend its Win Streak to Three Games Saturday Against Rice

DENTON, Texas – After picking up back-to-back road wins over UTSA and UTEP last weekend, UNT returns to the Super Pit to take on Rice in a Saturday matinee matchup. The Mean Green will be looking to avenge an 81-74 loss against the Owls earlier this season.

It will be the 23rd all-time meeting between the two programs in a series that dates back to the 1986-87 season. It is the ninth consecutive season UNT and Rice square off at least twice in a season.

Rice heads into the week at 15-5 overall and 6-5 in C-USA play. The Owls went unbeaten in non-conference play but started C-USA competition just 1-4 before bouncing back to win five of their last six games and are coming off a victory Thursday against UAB.

Quick Hitters

Senior Quincy Noble leads UNT offensively with 17.3 points per game this season, a figure that is second Conference USA. Noble has scored in double figures 19 times this season for North Texas and ranks ninth in program history with 1,152 points in her career at UNT.
Sophomores Kendall McGruder and Aniyah Johnson have been on a tear since the start of C-USA play. Both are averaging double figures in conference-only games with McGruder scoring 12.5 points per game and Johnson averaging 11.5 ppg.
Since the start of 2023, Johnson is averaging 12.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Johnson has scored in double figures six times in her collegiate career. All six have come since the calendar turned in January.
Freshman Ereauna Hardaway ranks fourth in C-USA with a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio on the year. The freshman leads the Mean Green with 3.6 APG.
UNT has been one of the top teams in C-USA in distributing the basketball this season. The Mean Green ranks second in league with 14.0 assist per game in conference-only games.
In C-USA matchups, UNT has two of the top seven assist leaders in the league as Hardaway and McGruder are in sixth and seventh, respectively, in the conference in assists per game.
UNT has two of the shot blockers in C-USA this season in Tommisha Lampkin and Johnson. Lampkin sits fifth in the league with 1.3 blocks per game while Johnson is eighth at 1.1 BPG.
In total, the Mean Green rank third in the conference with 3.6 blocks per game as a team.
Through 21 games this season, the rebound battle has been an indicator of success for UNT. The Mean Green are 4-10 this season when losing the team rebounding battle and are 4-2 when outrebounding their opponents.

Series History

Rice leads the all-time series 15-7, but the Mean Green have won three of the last meetings between the two teams including taking home a pair of wins last season.
From Feb. 2015 to March of 2021, the Owls took home 11 of 12 matchups in the series before UNT stopped the streak in 2021.
The Owls took down the Mean Green 81-74 in Houston earlier this season.

Opposing the Owls

Rice comes into the week at 16-5 overall and 5-5 in C-USA play.
The Owls have had huge swings in momentum all season long. After starting the year 9-0, Rice began C-USA play 1-4. Since then, the Owls have won five of their last six C-USA matchups to improve to 6-5 in league play.
Ashlee Austin is the leading scorer for the Owls averaging 12.8 points per game while Malia Fisher is just behind her at 12.4 ppg.
Rice gets to the free throw line and converts at an extremely high rate. The Owls lead C-USA with 21.5 FT attempts per game and rank 15th in DI with 15.8 FTs made per contest.

Things to Know

Saturday will be "Galentine's Day" inside the Super Pit. Fans will also be able to write appropriate Valentine's Day cards to players and coaches at the marketing table inside Gate B.
An iPad will be given to one student at halftime, courtesy of Credit Union of Texas.
Gate A of the Super Pit remains closed for construction until further notice. Fans are encouraged to enter through Gate B.
Tickets for the contest can be purchased here.

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