MAVERICKS TOP ROADRUNNERS 69-60 FOR TOP SPOT IN WEST
2/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2009
San Antonio, Texas - Led by a 24 point performance by junior Meghan Nelson, the UT Arlington Mavericks secured the top spot in the West Division with a 69-60 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday, February 14 at the Convocation Center in San Antonio, Texas.
The victory gives the Mavs their eighth consecutive victory, improves them to 9-1 in league play and 15-8 overall.
Nelson led all scorers with 24 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field and grabbed seven boards for the Mavs.
After the 19:22 mark, the UT Arlington Mavericks never trailed in the first half but was tied once with the Roadrunners. UTA built an eight point lead at the 14:54 mark following a layup by Shalyn Martin, making the score 15-7.
Four three-pointers including two from UTSA's Ryba Pawlaczyk tied the game at 21-21 with 9:53 left in the first half. With the score tied for more than a minute in a half, the Mavericks went on a 7-2 run to lead by five with 5:08 remaining.
The Mavs were able to head into halftime with a 33-26 advantage over the Roadrunners. Junior Meghan Nelson and Shalyn Martin combined for 26 of the Mavs 33 first half points.
The Mavericks finished the first shooting 50 percent from the floor to UTSA's 24.2 percent.
UT Arlington led the second half on a 12-5 run to lead by as many as 11 points with 14:39 left in the game, to make the score 43-34.
UTSA answered back with a 13-2 run of its own to tie the game at 47-47 with 10:13 left in the game. A Jordan Stark foul on Candice Champion sent her to the line where she made one of two free throws, giving the Mavs a 48-47 lead.
The Roadrunners went back on top by five with a three-pointer and layup by Amber Gregg but a feed down in the paint to Champion brought the Mavs within two at 52-50. Tamara Simmons tied the game for the fourth time at 52-52 with 7:11 left in the game.
It was a one-point game for the next minute in half until UTSA's Stark connected on a three, giving the Roadrunners a 58-56 advantage. A Nelson layup tied the game for the final time at 58-58 and the Mavericks went on connecting on six consecutive free throws to seal the game.
For the game, the Mavericks finished shooting 47.3 from the field, 33.3 percent from the three-point line and 66.7 from the charity stripe.
UTA out-rebounded UTSA by a 47-34 margin and scored 28 points in the paint compared to 14 for the Roadrunners.
Seniors Candice Champion and Erin Dixon each notched their 10th double-doubles of the season. Champion finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds while Dixon collected 10 points and brought down 12 rebounds.
Stark scored 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting from the field, 5-of-15 from three-point range for the Roadrunners.
The Mavericks return to Arlington, Texas for a match-up against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday, February 18. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
