Box Score | Quotes | Notes

By Michael Eldridge | UTAMavs.com

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The UTA Lady Mavericks improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1977 after downing San Diego State 64-58 on Saturday at Walsh Gymnasium to open the SHU Thanksgiving Classic.

The perfect start to the season is now the second-best start in program history, behind the 7-0 opening to the 1977 season. The Lady Mavs take on Seton Hall in the tournament final on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT.

Rebekah VanDijk and Christina Devers teamed up to lead the UTA attack with each scoring 14 points in a game that was riddled with foul trouble. A combined 51 fouls were called in the matchup with SDSU's two leading scorers for the season fouling out. The Lady Mavericks turned the Aztecs (1-4) over 22 times in the contest, converting into a 25-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

After San Diego State hit a 3-pointer early in the contest, it was all UTA. The Lady Mavs led for 37:59 and built up their biggest advantage of 12 in the fourth quarter.

Cierra Johnson flirted with a double-double as she had nine rebounds and eight points. Johnson picked up three of UTA's six steals to meet her average of three per game.

KEY RUNS
First Half
After San Diego State hit the opening 3-pointer, the Lady Mavericks responded with a 9-0 run that set the tone for the contest. Cierra Johnson had five points during the run that included three free throws and VanDijk got her first points of the game to build the 9-3 lead.

Second Half
After San Diego State trimmed a nine-point deficit to just six points, it was back-to-back 3-pointers that put UTA up for good. Ericka Mattingly knocked down the first, followed by Christina Devers to give UTA its 12-point lead.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME
While Devers and VanDijk led UTA with 14 points, the efforts of Cierra Johnson completed the score sheet. Johnson had eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.

QUOTABLE

Coach Krista Gerlich on the game
"I am glad to get that win. It was a battle the whole time through. We didn't look fully sharp. We had a few different kids step for us. Ericka Mattingly played good in the second half and scored consecutively to really help us. We got a lot of kids a lot of playing time and a lot of different lineups to look at it today. We struggled to get the W today, but I'm glad we did.

Gerlich on the progress of the team
"I felt like the whole day we put two steps forward and took one back. We went ahead by nine and would foul and give up an easy bucket. We would go on a little run and then do something silly. I'm proud of them, that is what you have to do, grind it out on the road and hopefully we will play better tomorrow."