UNT women's basketball team set for high-profile game at Baylor

The Bears are ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 poll.

Baylor had an opening on its schedule after its game against Houston Baptist was called off due to COVID-19 issues within the Huskies’ program.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to compete against Baylor in Waco,” UNT coach Jalie Mitchell said in a statement. “Both teams wanted to play after experiencing cancellations, and we believe this is the perfect situation for us to be mentally and physically prepared for Conference USA play.”

UNT (6-3) is set to open Conference USA play with a game at Rice on New Year’s Day. That game could also be in jeopardy.

The Owls have not played since beating Sam Houston on Dec. 16. Rice’s last two games against Texas A&M and Texas College have both been canceled.

The Owls were set to face Texas College on Wednesday before that game was called off due to COVID-19 cases within Rice’s program.

Scheduling Baylor gives UNT an opportunity to build on an impressive start to the season. The Mean Green won four straight games before seeing that streak snapped in a 67-64 loss to Wichita State.

UNT had a five-point lead with less than a minute left before the Shockers rallied for the win.

Junior guard Quincy Noble leads UNT with an average of 15.8 points per game and is one of three Mean Green players averaging double figures. Fellow guards Aly Gamez and Amber Dixon are averaging 12.8 and 10.0 points, respectively.

The Mean Green will face one of the top players in college basketball when they take on the Bears (9-2) and forward NaLyssa Smith. The 6-foot-4 senior was an All-American last season and has picked up where she left off while averaging 20.5 points and 13.3 rebounds per game.