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Despite an injury-plagued season, the women’s basketball team continues to build momentum as it improved to 5-2 in the Sun Belt Conference with back-to-back road wins against conference foes Louisiana-Monroe and North Texas this past weekend.
Thursday night, the Pioneers outlasted the Warhawks to clench a 52-49 victory, followed by Saturday’s 50-44 win over the Mean Green in Denton, Texas.
“It was a huge road trip for us,” said head coach Erik Johnson. “If you look at the western standings in the SBC rankings, us and Arkansas-Little Rock are always going to be vying for that top spot [in the West Division], but the other two teams vying for that spot are Louisiana-Monroe and North Texas.”
The Pioneers were picked to win the SBC West Division in the coaches’ preseason poll, and Johnson said he intends to live up to that selection.
However, this season has proved to be a challenge for the Pioneers, a team littered with injuries. The most notable early season injury was to sophomore guard Quincey Noonan, who broke a bone in her left arm while playing in Hawaii over winter break. After missing three weeks, Noonan returned to the court on Jan. 15, but unfortunately will return to the disabled list again after breaking a bone in her right hand during Thursday’s contest against ULM.
Senior forward Kaetlyn Murdoch injured her knee at South Alabama on Jan. 7, and this week marked redshirt junior Morgan Shell’s only second appearance since missing three weeks due to hamstring injuries.
“Murdoch did well coming off her leg injury [against Western Kentucky], but she clearly wasn’t at 100 percent. She still did a great job, and she’s getting better,” said Johnson. “Her MRI was clean, no tears, but it’s about pain tolerance. She just played through a lot of pain. It’s also nice to see that Morgan Shell got a lot of rehab.”
Redshirt freshman Chaunise Powell is also on the sidelines after suffering a concussion at Arkansas State on Jan. 4.
“We’re banged up, but this is part of basketball at this point in the season,” said Johnson. “This is why you have depth.”
With so many injuries this season, the Pioneers have been relying heavily on their three freshmen, who combined for a 32-point performance on Thursday to lead the team against ULM. Guards Morgan Van Riper-Rose and Jordan Johnston contributed 15 and 13 points, respectively, and forward Theresa Wirth added four. Murdoch completed the double-figure scoring with 10 points, adding seven rebounds.
The Pioneers finished the first half leading the Warhawks 27-15 but struggled from the field.
“We played very well defensively in the first half, but failed to take advantage of it on the offensive side of the floor,” said Johnson. “Our freshmen stepped up big for us and provided a great spark off the bench. I’m not going to complain about a win on the road. We made the plays when we had to.”
The Warhawks started the second half with a 19-10 run, pulling within three points of the Pioneers. For the remainder of the game, Denver never recovered more than a nine-point lead, and several times the score was within two points.
However, the Pioneers refused to surrender the lead, finishing the game with strong defense and leaving the final score at 52-49.
Similar to Thursday, the Pioneers struggled to make shots during the first half on Saturday, trailing the Mean Green 22-16 at half. However, the team went on a decisive 10-0 run to begin the second half, leading by as many as 15 points during the remainder of the game and never allowing UNT to regain the lead.
The Pioneers were again led by their freshman talent, as Johnston contributed 14 points during the game, including nine consecutive points. Junior point guard Emiko Smith added 12 points, five assists and six rebounds, and Murdoch again tallied 10 points. Sophomore forward Maiya Michel led the team with nine rebounds.
“Emi Smith has had to play every minute of every game,” said Johnson. “She’s an iron woman. The freshmen have been stepping up, and Maiya is doing a great job with rebounds, both offensive and defensive.”
The Pioneers return to action when they host Arkansas State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Magness Arena.
