Jan. 29, 2015

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

By Michael Eldridge | @DFWSportsMike

ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich's message leading up to its clash with Georgia State was that she wanted a complete team effort. The Lady Mavericks responded with their best shooting performance since the second game of the season and downed Georgia State 57-45 on Thursday night at College Park Center.

The Lady Mavs (10-9, 4-6) earned their first 10-win season since the 2009-10 campaign after ending a three-game skid, the second time this season that a three-game streak came to an end against the Panthers. UTA completed the season sweep of Georgia State and improved to 4-0 all-time against the Panthers.

"Our kids have been through a lot in the past couple of weeks and they were really focused on what we were doing," Gerlich said. "To be quite honest we just knocked down shots. We guarded them really well and executed and got some easy buckets eventually."

The Lady Mavs' defense held the Panthers to just 16 percent shooting in the first half to open up a double-digit halftime lead and clamped down to start the second to pull away. UTA's offense shot 44 percent from the field and hit five 3-pointers overall. Freshman Rebekah Van Dijk led with a game-high 16 points for her 14th double-digit scoring effort of the season.

Freshman Cierra Johnson helped the offense take advantage of Georgia State's struggles with a team-leading seven points in the opening half. Johnson would pick up the first of her points with less than seven minutes remaining on a fast-break layup and would convert on the next three UTA buckets. Johnson finished with 13 points.

Johnson's streak of consecutive buckets came to an end at just the right moment for UTA. Senior Krioni Bruce stepped back with seconds left and dropped a 3-pointer as the first half buzzer sounded for a 25-15 lead.

"The shot that Krioni hit really gave us some life to go into the second half with confidence," Gerlich said.

UTA started right where it left off and were hot from the 3-point line. The Lady Mavs knocked down two from beyond the arc to start the half, one coming from Amara Wainwright and the other from LaShanda Green on the next possession.

The lead was extended to as high as 20 points with 10 minutes left to go in the contest before Georgia State closed the gap. The Panthers were able to hold the Lady Mavs without a field goal for the final four minutes, but time ran out on Georgia State as the run was too little too late.

Notes: Cierra Johnson's team-high six rebounds was just the second game that Rebekah Van Dijk did not lead the team in boards... UTA is 6-0 when having more assists than its opponent at home.

UP NEXT: Troy, College Park Center, Saturday 5 p.m.