EL PASO, Texas – A large crowd is expected on Saturday afternoon as UTEP women’s basketball welcomes in North Texas for a 1 p.m. tipoff.
The Miners (13-5, 6-3 C-USA) sit a half game out of second in the conference standings and will be hosting the Mean Green (7-13, 4-6 C-USA) in the “915 Game” for the program.
This is the second time in the past three seasons that UTEP has started 6-3 in league action, eventually jumping out to an 11-3 start during the 2020-21 season.
The Mean Green are led by one of the most talented players in the conference in Quincy Noble, who is tied for second in the league in scoring, averaging 17.0 per game with 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 steals per contest.
Noble is a two-time All-Conference selection who is a familiar face for the Miners in her third season of game action for the program. Last time out, North Texas topped UTSA 54-51 in San Antonio to pick up its first road C-USA win of the season. Noble had 16 points in that one to lead the way. In addition to Noble, Jaaucklyn Moore and Kendall McGruder have each averaged 8.8 points per game to help on the scoring end.
Tommisha Lampkin leads the team in rebounding with 6.9 per game, while McGruder has a team-high 60 assists. Lampkin and Aniyah Johnson are quality shot blockers on the inside, with each swatting 24 so far on the year. The Mean Green have not been statistically strong this season on the boards, ranking last in the conference with 33.8 per game and a -4.8 margin.
UTEP guard Jazion Jackson is a transfer from UNT and enters her first meeting of the season against her former team fresh off a monster effort last week. During the course of the three games, the product of Dallas set or equaled numerous career bests.
In a 68-60 home defeat of Charlotte, Jackson tied a career high with nine rebounds. She then helped fill in admirably for N’Yah Boyd at the point guard position starting in a tight loss to FIU on Thursday that saw her score a career-high 22 points with five assists, four rebounds and a steal.
Eight of those points came in the fourth quarter as UTEP nearly erased a 17-point deficit. She then one-upped herself on Saturday, once again setting a career mark with 26 points on an 11-of-21 effort from the floor with four steals and three boards in a thrilling 79-78 overtime win at Florida Atlantic.
