It was an exciting first day full of action as both men and women took the floor at The Ford Center in The Star in Frisco. The beautiful state-of-the-art venue in Frisco, Texas played host for the first time and the first round action didn't disappoint. Several NFL and Cowboy greats were in attendance at the Ford Center including Tony Dorsett and Russell Maryland. Mean Joe Greene joined them to watch his alma mater UNT compete later in the evening.
The Lady Golden Eagles of Southern Miss and UTEP Lady Miners tipped off at 11am. Both teams exchanged blows and Southern Miss defense forced some costly UTEP turnovers and were forcing tough shots. The Lady Miners regrouped and continued to feed their senior forward Tamara Seda who finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds in the Miners victory.
The Lady Owls from Rice took care of business against the Lady Monarchs of Old Dominion. ODU made a couple runs to cut into the early deficit they faced, but ultimately the Owls were too much to handle with Nicole Iademarco pouring in 23 points and not enough offense from the Lady Monarchs. Kelly Loftus lead the Monarchs with 12 points in the 70-48 loss.
In the third game of the ladies opening round, we saw the Lady Roadrunners take on the FAU Owls in the 10-7 match-up. UTSA got a huge boost from their bench and had 4 players in double figures with Crystal Chidomere with 23 points and 11 rebounds. UTSA shot 53% in the slight upset over Florida Atlantic. Danneal Ford had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the loss for the Lady Owls.
In the fourth and final game of the women's first round action the Lady Mean Green played against the Charlotte 49'ers in a defensive battle. UNT's defense is one of the best in the nation and the Charlotte ladies found that out the hard way. The Mean Green forced 21 turnovers and scored 18 points off those turnovers and held the 49'ers to under 42% shooting. Lauren Holmes provided a boost early on for UNT and then Terriell Bradley and Grace Goodhart played great down the stretch to secure the win, 58-55. Bradley scored 16 points and had 3 steals. Amaya Ransom scored 18 points for Charlotte in defeat.
The men came late to the party Wednesday afternoon but the first game was a dandy. The 8-9 match-up saw FIU Golden Panthers take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Great individual efforts by Cortez Edwards of Southern Miss and Brian Beard Jr. of FIU. Edwards scored 29 points, pulled in 7 rebounds and dished out 6 assists. Beard had 30 and 7 assists for FIU in a 69-68 loss. FIU played from behind for most of the game and Southern Miss's Dominic Magee made some big free throws down the stretch.
The second game featured an all Texas match-up when UTEP was overmatched by the fifth seed UTSA Roadrunners 71-58. UTEP only lead really early and it lasted 45 seconds. Evan Gilyard had 29 points in the loss. Conference USA Coach of the Year Steve Henson got everyone involved as every Roadrunner got on the score sheet. UTSA outrebounded UTEP 45-34 and created 14 second chance points.
The Mean Green men tried to accomplish what the ladies had done earlier, in Game 3 of the men's session, but got knocked off by 10 seed La Tech Bulldogs 68-62. It was pretty much a home game for UNT as the Denton faithful were hoping for a come from behind win. The Mean Green dominated down low outscoring the Bulldogs 40-26 in the paint. Steeler Hall of Famer and Mean Green alum Joe Greene was court-side but it was not enough. Roosevelt Smart and Ryan Woolridge combined for 40 points but some controversial whistles and some clutch free throw shooting in the 2nd half was too much to overcome for UNT.
Lastly, the UAB Blazers faced off against the FAU Owls at 9pm CST. FAU led 1-0 on a free throw very early and they would never lead again. Owls did have 4 players in double figures including 22 points and 9 rebounds for Ronald Delph. UAB out-rebounded FAU 39-29 and shot 55% from the field in a 83-72 victory.
Plenty of basketball left this week and into the weekend as Conference USA looks to crown it's men and women's 2018 champion. Pictures to follow.
