April 21, 2005

ARLINGTON, Texas - Senior guard Tabitha Wesley was named to the 2005 Southland Conference Women's Basketball All-Academic Team, the conference office announced Monday. Wesley becomes the second player named to the all-academic team in as many years with Rola Ogunoye being honored in 2004.

Wesley is joined on the all-academic team by Amanda Bennett and Ashley Sparkman of Northwestern State, LaToya Carson of Lamar, Nicole Dunson of Texas-San Antonio and Stephanie Trachier of Sam Houston State. Dunson was named the SLC Women's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year.

Wesley (DeSoto, Texas) emerged as one of the top outside shooters in her senior campaign as she connected on 61-of-144 (.424) three-pointers and finished third on the team in scoring at 9.3 points per game. She was named the SLC Player of the Week after going 6-for-8 from long range for 24 points against FSU. She would later go 6-for-8 from deep in a victory over SFA. Wesley poured in a career-high 27 points as the Mavs defeated defending champion NSU in the conference home opener in January.

The Mavs finished the 2004-05 campaign with an overall record of 21-10, and shared the regular season SLC championship with a record of 13-3. UTA went on to capture its first SLC Tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.