Marshall senior guard Shayna Gore dropped 25 points with nine assists on Thursday, leading the Thundering Herd women’s basketball team past North Texas 67-55 in a Conference USA matchup.

Marshall head coach Tony Kemper said in a postgame interview that (Gore) is such a good scorer.

“I think at times she just presses so much because she knows how good at that she is and I also know how much better she makes players around her,” he said. “She can get (players) shots that they can drain, and we need that out of her, and she did that tonight. 25 points plus nine assists, you are talking about at least 47 (points) at the minimum.”

The Herd fought through four periods of basketball, with Gore going 9-for-17 in field goals, 4-for-9 in 3-pointers, and 3-for-4 in free throws. Redshirt senior guard Taylor Porter scored nine points, going 2-for-7 in field goals, 0-for-3 in 3-pointers, and 5-for-6 in free throws.

Kemper said that (Gore) and (Porter) have been carrying the Herd with their preparation and energy, communication, and just their steadiness and toughness.

“(Gore) and (Porter) are driving the bus,” he said. “They are the ones if I say this what I need, and they haven’t always been that way, but hey, we say ‘we need this this and this go,’ and they go and get it done. I am not saying that everyone else isn’t doing that, but this team is driven by the two seniors and that is how it is supposed to be.”

Despite losing the turnover battle 20-17 the Herd’s defense contributed much to a victory. The Herd held North Texas’s leading scorer senior guard Terriell Bradley, who was averaging 17.6 points per game, to eight points on 3-for-17 shooting. Marshall also had 11 steals to the Mean Green’s nine.

Kemper said that defense is how the Herd is winning.

“We guarded pretty well again (with) 32 percent in defensive field goal percentage.” he said. “(The players) know that is how they have to get it done. I am proud of them for that.”

Similarly, Gore said that the Herd needs to play good defense.

“Where we are so small, we have to play defense and that is going to lead into (points) for all of us,” she said. “I think that is what we all thought. One stop at a time and that is going to lead into good offense.”

With the win the Herd advanced its record to 14-9 and 8-2 in conference play, while North Texas fell to 11-11, and 4-6 in conference play.

Kemper said that his team’s 8-2 conference start can be attributed to the victory over Old Dominion back in January.

“We flipped a switch against Old Dominion, and it has not turned off,” he said. “I think they were really ready to play against Old Dominion and I think when they came out and executed the game plan perfectly, I mean Old Dominion had 13 points at the end of the half. The confidence button finally flipped.”

Kemper said the Herd has its work cut out for it in the upcoming games but that the team is ready.

“I am really excited for us to go through the group of teams that we are about to go through. It is really going to stress us, and it is really going to challenge us,” he said. “Our league is very good. There is a lot of parody. I think that the teams we have played and beaten have prepared us for this stretch against very good teams,” he said.

Marshall will play its next game Saturday at the Cam Henderson Center, when the Thundering Herd will take on Rice University in a Conference USA matchup. Tipoff is slated for noon.

Millard Stickler can be contacted at [email protected].