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December 2, 1996

Lady Raiders Rout North Texas, 82-39

DENTON, Texas - It is tough to win a basketball game when your team is held scoreless for one-fourth of the contest. For the University of North Texas Eagles, going almost 10 minutes without scoring made the almost impossible task of defeating the Texas Tech Lady Raiders even more difficult.

The Lady Raiders (4-0), fresh off a convincing 95-80 win at UCLA, chewed up the Eagles (0-4) 82-39 to wrap up the first road trip of the season.

The Eagles made it interesting, early on at least.

A tenacious man defense harried the Lady Raiders for the first nine minutes of the contest. A three-point play by the Eagles pulled them within 17-15 with less than 12:00 minutes to play in the first half. Then the drought started.

For almost ten full minutes, the Eagles failed to score a single point. The Lady Raiders, meanwhile, took full advantage of the opportunity. A jump shot by forward Alicia Thompson made it 45-15 with 3:15 left to play in the period.

Some small consolation went to the Eagles, as they outscored the Lady Raiders 7-6 down the first-half stretch. Still, the Raiders went to the locker room with a commanding 51-22 halftime lead.

It only got worse in the second half.

Thompson scored six of her game-high 26 points in the first few minutes of the second period. The Eagles continued to struggle from the field, hitting fewer than 20 percent of their shots for the game.

Head coach Marsha Sharp began substituting players wholesale with 7:42 left in the game. It was hard to tell the subs from the starters, though.

Junior post Crystal Boles had five blocked shots, senior guard Elisha Walker blocked an Eagle three-point attempt (the first block of her career) and freshman Dietra Johnson scored as the Raiders continued to roll.

Thompson finished with a double-double after grabbing 14 boards. Freshman forward Keitha Dickerson also recoreded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The player of the year in high school basketball for 1996, freshman guard Melinda Schmucker continued to impress as a Lady Raider, scoring 12 points from her point-guard position.

Final Box Score

TEXAS TECH (82)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Schmucker       26   3-6   4-4   1-3  0  1   12
Thompson        22  9-17   7-8  5-14  0  1   26
Gibbs            9   1-1   0-0   0-1  1  5    2
Lake            22   2-8   0-0   1-4  3  0    5
Hanebutt        21  4-10   0-0   1-2  3  1   10
Cockerell       13   1-5   2-4   0-5  0  1    4
Walker           8   0-0   0-1   0-2  1  0    0
Boles           20   2-5   0-0   0-2  0  2    4
Dickerson       18   7-8   3-3  3-11  0  2   17
Parker          10   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  1    0
Sumrall         11   0-3   0-0   0-1  1  0    0
Tate            12   0-2   0-0   1-3  0  0    0
Johnson          8   1-4   0-2   1-6  0  0    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 30-70 16-22 13-55  9 14   82
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.429, FT-.727. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Schmucker 2-4, Thompson 1-1, Lake
1-3, Hanebutt 2-5, Sumrall 0-2, Tate 0-2). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 11 (Boles 6, Thompson
2, Walker, Gibbs, Cockerell). Turnovers: 10 (Lake
3, Dickerson 2, Hanebutt, Parker, Schmucker,
Sumrall, Tate). Steals: 8 (Tate 3, Thompson 2,
Dickerson, Hanebutt, Sumrall).

NORTH TEXAS (39)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Norris          27  3-18   4-5   3-7  1  0   11
Smith           21   1-2   3-5   1-6  1  5    5
Mckizzie        24   0-6   1-4   1-6  2  4    1
Gunnels         27   1-4   0-0   0-2  2  2    2
Washington      26   1-6   1-2   0-3  0  1    3
Gilbert         21  4-11   0-0   1-4  0  1    9
Alex            11   1-3   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Drane           16   1-8   0-0   0-5  0  2    3
Thomas          16   1-7   0-0   0-3  0  4    3
Rupp            11   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 13-65  9-16  6-36  6 19   39
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.200, FT-.563. 3-Point Goals:
4-20, .200 (Norris 1-12, Washington 0-1, Gilbert
1-1, Drane 1-2, Thomas 1-4). Team rebounds: 6.
Blocked shots: 1 (Mckizzie). Turnovers: 17
(Gilbert 5, Mckizzie 3, Norris 3, Gunnels 2,
Thomas 2, Rupp, Smith). Steals: 2 (Drane,
Mckizzie).
__________________________________
Texas Tech         51   31  -   82
North Texas        22   17  -   39
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 1,544. Officials: Sue
Kennedy, Knepp, Jack Jones.

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