March 10, 2010

Photo Gallery | Box Score

By Josh Bowe for utamavs.com

KATY - Texas - During interviews after practice on Tuesday afternoon, coach Samantha Morrow and her players shared a common word: focus.

Morrow and her players must have been onto something.

UT Arlington started strong and, although it was a bumpy road, finished strong beating UT San Antonio 68-63 Tuesday night in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center in Katy.

"I think we were very focused coming in," Morrow said. "A lot of good energy and a lot of good communication."

The Mavericks blitzed the Roadrunners in the opening minutes of the first half, leading 15-6 with just over 12 minutes to go in the first half.

UTSA came into the game with the best scoring defense in the Southland conference, only allowing 61.7 points per game. But it was UTA who came out with stifling defense.

UTA held UTSA to 28 percent shooting in the first half.

"We worked a lot this week on trying to stop penetration," Morrow said. "I felt like we did it good early but we didn't do very good late."

Morrow is referencing a second half that saw the Roadrunners climb back into the game using a 20-9 run. The run brought UTSA to within one at 6-59 with just under three minutes to play.

Senior guard Meghan Nelson had to sit out a majority of the Roadrunners run due to foul trouble. It's plagued Nelson all season and she said all she can do is try to adjust.

"We had to stay aggressive and they were calling it tight," Nelson said. "Once I got into foul trouble I just had to rely on my teammates to play it through."

Junior guard LaTosha Duffey was able to provide some support off the bench while Nelson had to sit. Duffey scored seven points in her 15 minutes relieving Nelson.

"LaTosha came in and gave us good quality minutes," Morrow said.

Ironically while Nelson said she had to rely on her teammates while she had to sit, her teammates relied on her down the stretch.

Nelson nailed four clutch free throws in the final 76 seconds to prevent any sort of UTSA comeback. Nelson scored a team high 18 points.

"I just stayed calm and approached each free throw like the last one," Nelson said.

Junior forward Shalyn Martin collected another double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Martin did a majority of her damage early on, scoring 10 of the Mavs first 12 points. Junior guard Tamara Simmons was the only other Maverick besides Nelson and Martin in double figures with 14, all scored in the first half.

Martin said the win against UTSA was huge since UTSA knocked off UTA in the tournament finale last year, preventing UTA from reaching the NCAA Tournament.

"That was in the back of our minds," Martin said. "That's something big for us. We had a lot riding on this game and we came out with the victory."

Morrow was just impressed with the resiliency her team showed. The Mavericks have blown leads late in games before and Morrow was all smiles her team finished this game.

"I know they may not say this but in the back of their mind they're thinking `not again'," Morrow said. "I think we did some really good things there."

UTA plays top-seeded Lamar in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals at 2:30 on Thursday