GRAMBLING, La. - The UT Arlington Lady Mavs head to Grambling to take on the Tigers on Monday night (Nov. 18). The matchup, which the second game of UTA's 6-game road trip, will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.

Matchup: UTA (2-0) at Grambling (1-3)
When: Monday, November 18 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center | Grambling, La.

UTA PROBABLE STARTERS
#20 Claire Chastain | G
#21 Terryn Milton | G
#24 Aysia Evans | G
#41 Katie Ferrell | G
#45 Emma Halverson | F

STARTING 5 QUICK HITS
#20 Claire Chastain (G)
• Shot .424 from the field last season
• Ranked 9th in the Sun Belt in FT% (.763)
• Scored in double figures in 14 of the 28 games she played in

#21 Terryn Milton (G)
• Started 30 of the team's 32 games last season
• Shot .498 from the field last season
• Ranked 6th in the Sun Belt in FG% (.498) and 15th in assists per game (2.7)

#24 Aysia Evans (G)
• Shot .429 from the field last season
• Knocked down a trey in 16 of the 31 games she appeared in
• Scored a season & career-high 19 points vs. Texas State (Feb. 2) last season

#41 Katie Ferrell (F)
• Finished with 6 points, 10 rebounds & 9 assists in the opener vs Chicago St.
• Ranked in the top 100 nationally in total steals (48th), steals per game (54th), assist-to-turnover ratio (56th), total assists (88th) and assists per game (92nd) last season
• Ranked 2nd in the Sun Belt in assists (4.4)

#45 Emma Halverson (C)
• Scored 15 points (7-of-10 FG) vs. Chicago St.
• Shot .419 from the field last season
• Appeared in 23 games last season

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | GRAMBLING
WITH A WIN
With a win at Grambling, the Lady Mavs will start the season 3-0 for the 3rd time in 7 seasons under head coach Krista Gerlich. UTA also went 3-0 to start the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.

UP NEXT
UTA will continue their road trip with a matchup at Kansas State, before competing in three neutral site games (vs. #9 Louisville, vs. #1 Oregon, vs. Oklahoma State) in the Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam (Nov. 28-30).

HUGE UTA DEBUT
Senior transfer Marie Benson made her UTA debut at North Texas (Nov. 15). She scored her 1,000th career point as the UTA women's basketball team led wire-to-wire and earned its first road win of the season, defeating UNT 68-49, inside The Super Pit.

Benson finished with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. She also added 12 boards to register her 28th career double-double.

NCAA WAIVERS APPROVED
UT Arlington transfers senior Marie Benson and sophomore Katie Mayhue were granted waivers by the NCAA and both are eligible to play for the Lady Mavs immediately. Benson had her waiver approved Wednesday and made her UTA debut on Friday night (Nov. 15) at North Texas, while Mayhue got her approval weeks ago, but her debut for the Lady Mavs is on hold while she recovers from an illness.

Benson, who will have one year of eligibility remaining after playing the last three years at UTSA, and Mayhue, who played last season at Montana and will have three years of eligibility remaining, joined the UTA women's basketball program this summer. Waiver requests were submitted to the NCAA to make the pair eligible immediately and Mayhue's was approved a month ago, while Benson's was approved on this week.

Benson, was a three-year letter winner at UTSA. The Waco, Texas native finished the 2018-19 season averaging 15.2 points, 10.7 rebounds (single-season UTSA record), 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. Benson snagged her 600th career rebound during her junior campaign and left UTSA as the program's fifth-best rebounder (680). Benson registered 14 double-doubles on the season (27 career double-doubles), scored in double-figures in 21 games and led the team in scoring, field goal attempts, free-throw attempts and made, rebounds, steals and blocked shots.

As a freshman at Montana last season, Mayhue made 17 appearances, including eight starts. She missed most of February and all of March due to a foot injury, but led the team in three-point percentage (.340) and averaged 1.1 treys made per game (fourth on team). She also averaged 7.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists during her rookie season. On the season she had seven double-figure scoring outings, including a career-high 17 points at Arizona (Dec. 5) and at Sacramento State (Jan. 3).

POST WORK
Sophomore post players Misty Dossey and Emma Halverson started the season off with a bang, with both players finishing with career-highs in points in UTA's 84-53 season-opening with over Chicago State.

Dossey finished with a career-high 24 points on an efficient 10-of-11 shooting from the field. She also fell just a rebound (9) shy of a double-double and added 3 blocks and a pair of assists.

Halverson finished the game with a career-high 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. She also had four rebounds and four assists.

COLLEGEINSIDER.COM MID-MAJOR TOP 25
The Lady Mavs, who were ranked No. 25 in the final 2018-19 CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll, received 7 votes in the most recent top 25 (Nov. 12).
UTA is 1 of 4 Sun Belt programs to make an appearance in the poll. South Alabama (10), Little Rock (7) and Troy (6) all received votes.

SUN BELT PRESEASON POLL
The Sun Belt Conference preseason poll has defending champion Little Rock as top pick to win the conference again with six of the 12 first-place votes and 127 points. Troy is right behind UALR with 123 points and four first-place votes. UTA received one first-place vote and took third with 120 points. South Alabama (119 points) and 2019 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) champions App State (100 points) rounded out the top-5.

2019-20 Conference Women's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Poll (1st-place votes in parentheses)
1. Little Rock (6) - 127 pts
2. Troy (4) - 123 pts
3. UTA (1) - 120 pts
4. South Alabama (1) - 119 pts
5. Appalachian State - 100 pts
6. Georgia State - 73 pts
7. Coastal Carolina - 66 pts
8. Louisiana - 64 pts
9. Texas State - 59 pts
10. Arkansas State - 44 pts
11. Georgia Southern - 26 pts
12. ULM - 15 pts

PRESEASON SBC HONORS
UTA women's basketball landed two representatives on the 2019-20 Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Teams it was announced by the league office on Wednesday morning. Sophomore Claire Chastain was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team, while her classmate Katie Ferrell earned a spot on the Third Team, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.

Chastain appeared in 28 games, making 13 starts for the Lady Mavs last season. The Shawnee, Okla. native averaged 9.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game, while shooting 42.4 percent from the field and 76.3 percent from the charity stripe. The sophomore led the team in scoring eight times, rebounds three times and blocks on seven occasions. She also knocked down a trey ball in 13 games, including eight games with multiple triples. Chastain scored in double figures on 14 occasions, including a season-high 21-point performance vs. Texas State (Feb. 2).

Ferrell appeared in 32 games, making 30 starts. She averaged 5.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.3 steals per contest, while shooting 42.9 percent from the floor. The Plano, Texas native ranked in the top 100 nationally in total steals (48th), steals per game (54th), assist-to-turnover ratio (56th), total assists (88th) and assists per game (92nd). Ferrell led league in steals and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) and ranked 2nd in the Sun Belt Conference in assists. The sophomore filled the stat sheet last season, leading the team in rebounds 18 times, assists 19 times, steals 14 times and blocks on 13 occasions.

NEW LOOK LADY MAVS
The 2019-20 edition of the Lady Mavs will be without 56 percent of its scoring (39.7 points) and six players from last season's squad that went 24-8. Seniors Cierra Johnson (2019 Sun Belt Co-Player of the Year), Laurynn McGowen, Lauren Billie and Daiane Machado all graduated and redshirt junior Brooke Alexander (Syracuse) and sophomore Kelsey Johnson (Central Oklahoma) decided to transfer.

The Lady Mavs return eight players from last season, including starters Katie Ferrell, Claire Chastain and Terryn Milton. Bre Wickware, a transfer from Indiana who sat out the entire 2018-19 season due to NCAA four-year transfer rules, will be making her Lady Mav debut in 2019-20. UTA added four transfers to the 2019-20 roster, as Marie Benson and Barbara Benson from UTSA and Katie Mayhue from Montana will join JUCO transfer Jordynn Hernandez in the recruiting class.

THANKSGIVING IN PARADISE
The Lady Mavs will travel to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands to play in the 2019 Paradise Jam tournament during the Thanksgiving holiday season (Nov. 28-30), marking the first time the Lady Mavs will compete in the event. All games during the tournament will be played at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center.

The 20th edition of the Paradise Jam features two four-team tournaments (Reef Tournament, Island Tournament) competing in round-robin play for separate tournament championships. The Reef Tournament teams are South Carolina, Washington State, Indiana, and national champion Baylor, while UTA will be joined by Oregon, Louisville and Oklahoma State in the Island Tournament.

The Lady Mavs open the event with a matchup against the Cardinals at 12:00 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 28, before battling the Ducks on Friday Nov. 29 (2:15 p.m. CT). UTA's final game will serve as the tournament's first mother-daughter rivalry as 2019 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year Krista Gerlich will face her daughter Bryn Gerlich and Oklahoma State for the first time in either of their collegiate careers. This matchup will take place on Sunday, Nov. 30 at noon CT.

Thursday, Nov. 28
Island Tournament
UTA (A) vs. Louisville (H), 12:00 p.m. CT
Oklahoma State (A) vs. Oregon (H), 2:15 p.m. CT

Friday, Nov. 29
Island Tournament
Louisville (A) vs. Oklahoma State (H), 12:00 p.m. CT
Oregon (A) vs. UTA (H), 2:15 p.m. CT

Saturday, Nov. 30
Island Tournament
Oklahoma State (A) vs. UTA (H), 12:00 p.m. CT
Louisville (A) vs. Oregon (H), 2:15 p.m. CT