Final Stats | Photo Gallery

By Michael Eldridge | @DFWSportsMike

ARLINGTON, Texas - A career-high 24 points from Amara Wainwright was not enough as UT Arlington fell 73-64 to WKU on Sunday at College Park Center.

The Lady Mavericks (3-5) ended the home portion of their nonconference schedule at 2-3 at CPC, heading on the road for a pair of games before hosting Georgia State on Dec. 30 in their Sun Belt Opener.

Wainwright caught fire midway through the third quarter to lead UTA's charge, scoring 14 points in the second half as she was 5-of-8 from beyond the arc. However, WKU would tame UTA's shooters and make a run of its own early in the final quarter.

The 15-0 run helped WKU (5-2) to its largest lead of the game at 11 points with under five minutes to play. UTA turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions during the run as the Lady Toppers outscored UTA 23-12 in the final period.

UTA gave the ball away 24 times overall and were outscored 23-10 in points off of turnovers.

Turning point
Trailing by four points, WKU turned the Mavericks over six times in the fourth quarter overall and on three consecutive possessions during a 15-0 run. WKU's two leading scorers overall, Kendall Noble and Tashia Brown, each had seven points in the quarter.

Key Stats
Wainwright was 9-of-14 from the field in scoring a game-high 24 points. The total was 11 better than her previous career high. Rebekah VanDijk picked up a game-high 14 rebounds, eight coming on the offensive end.

Notable
The Lady Mavericks are 0-3 against the Lady Toppers, last meeting with a pair of games in 2013-14 in Sun Belt play before WKU left to C-USA.

Up next
UTA closes out nonconference play with a pair of games on the road. UTA travels to face Houston Baptist on Dec. 19 and finishes with UTSA on Dec. 21.

Quotable
UTA coach Krista Gerlich's opening statement:
"WKU is obviously the Conference USA champions for a reason. I like the way that the play and they are very methodical about how they play and don't get rattled. They did a nice job and countered everything that we did. We really battled at times, and I thought we really shot the ball well on the perimeter, but we just cant beat people if we keep turning the ball over.

"We were in a position to win the basketball game but didn't have enough composure to pull it off."

Gerlich on Wainwright's play:
"She is having a really good year so far. It is fun to see a kid believe in what we tell them. It is just confidence from here. She has really worked hard and put in a lot of time on her own shooting the basketball. She is taking advantage of her opportunities. This is her last go-around, you never know when it is your last opportunity."

Gerlich on the difference the way the team played between the third and fourth:
"We weren't turning the ball over and we were putting it in the basket. We got some good looks from the 3-point line. We weren't turning it over and that is a huge thing. When we got up by four, we turned it over three consecutive times. When you look at the score, it is flat out the turnovers. When you give a team 24 extra opportunities, that is going to beat you."

Wainwright on her performance:
"I can be hard on myself, I think the coaches have always told me how much they believe in me. My teammates have always had my back no matter what."

Wainwright on what to learn from this game to take into the weekend:
"We have to value every possession, not only on offense, but on defense. It is not only what you do on offense but it is getting stops and understanding the plan for the game, that is going to be huge for conference play. We have to understand the game mentally and play as hard as we can physically."