March 10, 2007
Final Stats
HOUSTON - UT Arlington left little doubt that their 16-0 regular-season conference record was for real.
Behind a game-high 22 points from tournament MVP Terra Wallace, UT Arlington overpowered Stephen F. Austin 68-47 in the championship game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Southland Conference Basketball Tournament Saturday afternoon.
UT Arlington (24-8) set a school record with their 24th win of the season and their 19th straight. UTA, who advanced to their first NCAA Tournament in 2005, receives the SLC's automatic bid into the Big Dance and will find out their seeding and where they will play on Monday night at 7 p.m. (CT). The bracket show will be televised on ESPN and ESPNU. Stephen F. Austin (21-11), a 15-time conference tournament champion, will likely receive an invitation to the WNIT on Monday.
Tiffeny Riles had 16 points and Ashley Bobb and Maryann Abanobi added 10 points each. Stephen F. Austin had no player score in double figures. The SLC Player of the Year, Charity Egenti, was held to nine points and seven rebounds after picking up three fouls in the first half and sat for 12 minutes between the end of the first and start of the second half.
"This is a tremendous accomplishment for a great group of ladies," said Capps. "They fought and worked hard all year and played unselfish basketball."
Wallace scored 13 points in the second half to break the game open after building a 31-26 halftime lead. The Mavs opened the second half like they did the first with a 10-2 run to build a 41-28 lead after a jumper by Wallace with 16:22 left in the game.
The lead swelled to 19 points, 54-35, after a lay up by Riles with 9:41 in the game. SFA answered with a 10-1 run to cut the lead to 55-45 after two free throws from Egenti with 4:31 left in the game, but SFA could manage only one field goal by Egenti the rest of the game.
"I thought Tiffeny (Riles) did a fantastic job on (Egenti)," said Capps. "She played great technique and didn't allow her to get an open shot. We thought if we could force (Egenti) to shoot over Riles then we would have a chance.
"We just tried to play steady," said Capps. "If we dwell on a team's star, then their other players usually get going and it bites us in the rear."
Bobb and Riles were named to the all-tournament team along with Wallace.
UT Arlington jumped out to a 10-2 lead after SFA scored the opening basket. But the Ladyjacks rallied to tie the game after forcing the Mavericks into six consecutive turnovers with a trapping half-court defense.
SFA lost its leading scorer and the SLC's Player of the Year, Charity Egenti, after she was whistled with her second foul and a technical which gave her three fouls with 9:54 left in the half.
From there, Riles established herself in the lane, scoring six points by halftime and helped the Mavs to a 30-26 lead at intermission.
MAV NOTES: The 47 points allowed is the ninth time this season UTA has held an opponent to fewer than 50 points... Wallace, the career scoring leader at UTA, has 1,733 career points at UT Arlington... UTA set a school record with 24 wins on Saturday... Saturday's win ties the league's for consecutive conference wins (19).
