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UTA (18-7, 11-4) 78, Troy (18-8, 11-4) 72
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017
College Park Center • Arlington, Texas
Postgame Quotes

UTA Head Coach Krista Gerlich

Opening statement …
"That was a huge win for us. Just mentally, to be able to beat a team like that. Troy is a good basketball team and they are really, really hard to defend. Our kids did a great job of sticking to the gameplan. There were moments that we had some runs, or adversity, and had a chance to panic and I don't think we did. We got our minds right and really stepped up. Cierra (Johnson) was huge in the fourth quarter when she went on a 6-0 run by herself and just kind of put us on her shoulders a little bit. Crystal (Allen) did a nice job of coming back in in the first half when she missed a couple of shots. She then hit three, threes in a row. He stat line is really good, both of theirs (Allen and Johnson) are. We just had a lot of people step up. (Allyson) Teo had to play a lot of minutes because Rebekah was in foul trouble and she really played well. Miranda's (LeJune) three was very timely and obviously one that was a back breaker for them. Ericka (Mattingly) distributed the ball well with her nine assists. Our kids played really well and we had some really good production from a lot of people."

On beating Troy …
"It has been a while since we beat them. It is nice to get that win and get ourselves back in the hunt and get back in a position where we are in control of our own destiny so that is really nice for our kids to have that win and the confidence of a win like that, and on our home floor. We've had the stage set for us a couple of times to have a big game and we haven't pulled it through. The stage was set again and we pulled through this time."

On building the program to peak in Feb. and March …
"I would hope so. We are definitely building and we know that. We knew that this year would be a building year because we have so many new players. We knew we had some really talented players and some very skilled players that were going to be able to play at a high level. Chemistry is always the issue when you have that many new kids. We knew this year would be a marathon and take some time to put it together. But they are putting it together. They are coming around nicely. In fact, I think they came together quickly at the beginning of the year and all of our expectations went up. We've stumped our toe a time or two and had a little bit of a let down but tonight you could see them gel, come together and that we are no one dimensional. In the past two years we've been a little bit more one dimensional with just going inside to Rebekah and for us to be able to beat a team like Troy with Rebekah only scoring seven points, I think that speaks volumes to our guard play and how we've improved."

UTA Student-AthleteS

#00, Jr., Cierra Johnson

On beating Troy …
"It feels great. After losing to them the first time. I don't even know how to explain it because it was a tough one. It was tough. They battled."

#3, So., Crystal Allen

On the win …
"I feel like we competed. Before the game we already knew that it was going to be some tough competition, like we are playing Arkansas Little Rock, those games like that. We just knew that we had to come out there and compete. We couldn't come out there slow. We couldn't come out there doing any kind of thing. We had to stick to our gameplan and that is what we did and what got us through."