Women’s Basketball Set for Regular Season Finale Against WKU

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (March 3, 2023) – After dropping a Thursday night contest against No. 24 Middle Tennessee Thursday night, UNT returns to action Saturday in the final regular season contest of the year when they travel to Bowling Green, Ky., to take on Western Kentucky.

It will be the 30th all-time meeting between the two programs with WKU holding a 21-9 lead in the series. UNT knocked off WKU 84-76 earlier this season when Aniyah Johnson finished with a career night with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

A win for UNT or a loss by either Charlotte or FIU will clinch the #7 seed in the C-USA Tournament for the Mean Green.

WKU comes into the contest at 16-12 overall and 13-6 in C-USA play currently sitting in second place in the conference standings. The Hilltoppers knocked off UTEP 62-59 Thursday night to lock up the #2 seed in the C-USA Tournament.

Quick Hitters

Senior Quincy Noble leads UNT offensively with 17.3 points per game this season, a figure that is third Conference USA. Noble has scored in double figures 25 times this season and is eighth in program history with 1,290 points in her career at UNT.
Noble has scored 20+ points 11 times this season, seven of which have come in C-USA contests.
Junior Tommisha Lampkin has been on fire of late for UNT, scoring in double figures in three of her last four games. The string started with a career performance with 29 points and 18 rebounds in the win over UTEP.
UNT has started a freshman at PG in 27 of their 29 games this sesason with Breanna Davis making nine starts and Ereauna Hardaway starting 18.
Davis comes to UNT with a family pedigree. Davis' father, Chris, was selected to the UNT Hall of Fame in 2008. She scored a career-high 11 points in last Thursday's win over Charlotte.
Hardaway, meanwhile, ranks seventh in C-USA with a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio on the year. The freshman leads the Mean Green with 3.1 APG.
Aniyah Johnson has scored in double figures seven times in her collegiate career. All seven have come since the calendar turned in January.
In seven opportunities this season, UNT holds a 5-4 record against opponents in the second matchup with wins over FIU, FAU, Rice, UTEP and Charlotte.

Postseason Implications

Saturday's contest has huge postseason implications for UNT as they jockey for positioning in the C-USA Tournament bracket.
With a win over WKU or a loss by either FIU or Charlotte, UNT will clinch the #7 seed in the conference tournament and will matchup with either FAU or UAB in the first round.
A UNT loss combined with an FIU win as well as a Charlotte win would put the Mean Green into the #8 seed and give FIU the #7 seed by virtue of a three-way tiebreaker.
FIU takes on Rice at home Saturday while Charlotte faces off with UAB in Birmingham.
The Mean Green are 5-15 this season when losing the team rebounding battle and are 5-2 when outrebounding their opponents.
Against the teams currently ranked first through fourth in the standings, the Mean Green hold a 4-3 record.
When leading or tied with five minutes remaining in regulation, UNT is 10-3 overall.

Series History

WKU holds a 21-8 edge in the series including an eight-game winning streak from 2012-18.
The series has been tight as of late, as a team has not won back-to-back games in the series since 2018.
Outside of not playing each other in 2021-22, WKU and UNT have squared off every season other than that from 2000-01 to 2022-23.

Watching Western Kentucky

WKU heads into the matchup as the second-best team in C-USA at 16-12 overall and 13-6 in C-USA play.
The Hilltoppers have used a balanced offensive attack all season as they have five different players averaging at least 8.4 points per game, led by one of the top freshmen in the league in Acacia Hayes who is the top scorer on the team at 10.8 points per game.
Sophomore Alexis Mead fuels a lot of the attack on both ends for WKU, ranking inside the top five in C-USA in assist-to-turnover ratio, free throw percentage and steals per game.
WKU is one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country as they come into the matchup ranked third in DI with 29.2 3-point attempts per game as a team.

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