Another excellent outing from Saint Lucian centre Megan Nestor helped guide the University of North Texas women’s basketball team to a third consecutive win on Thursday, November 13, the first time the Mean Green has been 3-0 since 2002. UNT earned a 102-50 win over Nelson University, their 14th straight victory at home in The Super Pit.
Nestor, a senior centre from Canaries, put up 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her third consecutive double-double of the young season. She is now averaging 14.3 points and 11.7 rebounds for the season. On Thursday night, she needed just 19 minutes to make an impact on the game, shooting 8-16 from the field and 4-7 from the free throw line. It was her season high for scoring.
Nelson jumped out to an early 12-4 lead, which forced UNT head coach Jason Burton to use a timeout, with the Mean Green facing their largest deficit so far this year. North Texas course-corrected immediately after the timeout, going on a 19-0 run over the final 5:52 of the quarter.
The run got as large as 23-0 before Nelson scored to end the stretch with UNT’s defensive pressure forcing the Lady Lions into nine turnovers during the run. In total, UNT forced 30 turnovers, which included 23 steals – one off the program record for a game.
“It wasn’t a big emphasis to create turnovers; it was a big emphasis to disrupt their timing, pressure the basketball, and make them uncomfortable,” Burton said. “We thought from a game plan standpoint that if we applied pressure, we could create some turnovers, and the times we did that, we did a great job.”
Andi Schissler was able to keep the Mean Green afloat early on, scoring 10 of her 17 points in the first half and eight alone during the big run. Schissler was the second-leading scorer on the night. Three other players scored in double figures for North Texas, while all 11 available players recorded points for the second game in a row.
