University of North Texas Athletics
University of North Texas
6-5,0-0American
Oral Roberts
6-6,0-0Summit League
Second Half Plagues Women’s Basketball in Loss to Oral Roberts
12/18/2025 8:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball
DENTON, Texas – It was a tale of two halves for the UNT women's basketball team in a 74-73 loss to Oral Roberts Thursday in The Super Pit.
The Mean Green came out firing in the first half, shooting 41% from the floor and hitting five 3-pointers, while holding ORU to 29% shooting. Megan Nestor led the way for North Texas, recording another first half double double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Nine players scored in the first half for UNT, which seemed to be on its way to getting back in the win column.
A 43-26 halftime lead was extended to a 23-point advantage early in the third quarter before everything unraveled.
Over the next seven minutes, Oral Roberts put together a 21-2 run that cut UNT's lead to 51-47. Five straight points from Andi Schissler and an 8-0 North Texas run to end the quarter looked to have stopped the bleeding heading into the fourth, but ORU battled back once again and eventually took their first lead with 3:12 to play.
Tionna Lidge tied the game on an inbounds set with 14 seconds to play before ORU's Kayten Donley drew a foul and knocked down both free throws with 1.9 seconds left to shock the Mean Green.
North Texas was outscored 48-30 in the second half and allowed ORU to shoot 61% after the break.
Four UNT players scored in double figures on the night with Nestor being the leading scorer at 15 points. Schissler added 13, while Tiffany Hammond had 12 and Jazzy Owens-Barnett finished with 11. Thursday's loss marked the first time UNT dropped a game at The Super Pit when scoring 70 or more points under Jason Burton. Previously, the Mean Green were 28-0 at home and 40-2 overall when reaching 70 points.
Now sitting at 6-5 on the year, North Texas will close out the nonconference schedule when it hosts Santa Clara, who is ranked No. 60 in the NET Rankings, Sunday at 2 p.m. CT.
