ARLINGTON, Texas - UTA continues its trend in being recognized by the conference as Cierra Johnson was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week, announced by the league office on Monday.

Johnson, helping the Lady Mavericks earn four of the first six awards from the league, averaged 16.3 points per game over four games during the holiday break. The effort helped push UTA to a 3-1 record and to 9-3 overall.

"Cierra had a great week to open conference," UTA coach Krista Gerlich said. "She was aggressive on defense and kept pounding when we were struggling offensively. She's become such a good all-around player that I'm excited to see her get recognition for that from our conference."

After averaging 14.3 points through the first three games of the break, she produced her best performance on Saturday to help UTA to move to 2-0 in SBC play. Johnson scored a game-high 22 points on 7-14 shooting and grabbed seven steals. The takeaways were tied for third in UTA single-game history, a mark in which she has achieved two other times, and moved her from ninth to seventh in the Lady Mav all-time record books.

Johnon joins Christina Devers and Rebekah VanDijk (2) as Lady Mavs to earn the award this season. UTA takes to the road for its next three games, beginning with in-state rival Texas State on Saturday at 2 p.m.