ST. THOMAS, VIRGIN ISLANDS – The UTA women's basketball team will open play at the 2019 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam against #8/9 Louisville on Thursday at 12 p.m. CT. The Lady Mavs will then battle No. 1 Oregon on Friday Nov. 29 (2:15 p.m. CT) and 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.
 
UTA, Louisville, Oklahoma State and Oregon, along with Baylor, Indiana, South Carolina, and Washington State, who will be competing in a separate pool, all enter the Paradise Jam with undefeated records. 

All games during the tournament will be played at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center and will be streamed live at FloHoops.com. To access the live event coverage and replays of the Paradise Jam, users must sign up to become FloPRO subscribers ($) on FloHoops.com.

PARADISE JAM MATCHUPS
NOV. 28 UTA vs. #8/9 Louisville | Record: 5-0 | Head Coach: Jeff Walz
NOV. 29 UTA vs. #1/1 Oregon | Record: 4-0 | Head Coach: Kelly Graves
NOV. 30 UTA vs. Oklahoma State | Record: 5-0 | Head Coach: Jim Littell
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO (FLOHOOPS.com)

UP NEXT
After playing 3 games and spending thanksgiving in Paradise, the Lady Mavs will return home to play four of their five games in December at home inside College Park Center. 

UTA hosts Wright State, Marist, SMU and Texas Southern at home and head to Evanston, Ill. to face Northwestern.

STARTING 5 QUICK HITS
#12 Marie Benson (F)
- Named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week (Nov. 26)
- Scored a season-high 27 points at Grambling on Monday, Nov. 18
- Shooting .610 from the field this season
- Waiver to play immediately approved by the NCAA prior to the Nov. 15 UNT game
#20 Claire Chastain (G)
- Shooting .409 from the field this season
- Ranked 9th in the Sun Belt in FT% (.763) last season
- Scored in double figures in 14 of the 28 games she played in
21 Terryn Milton (G)
- Scored a career-high 18 points at Kansas State
- Shooting .560 from the field this season
- Ranked 6th in the Sun Belt in FG% (.498) and 15th in assists per game (2.7)
#24 Aysia Evans (G)
- Ranks 2nd in the conference in steals (2.8/gm)
- Shot .429 from the field last season
- Knocked down a trey in 16 of the 31 games she appeared in as a junior
#41 Katie Ferrell (F)
- Leads the team and is tied for 1st place in the conference in assists (6.3/gm).
- 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

SUN BELT PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the first time this season, Marie Benson was honored by the Sun Belt as the league's Player of the Week (Nov. 26) after helping guide UTA to a 2-0 record last week, including a huge road win at Big XII foe Kansas State.

After posting a double-double in her UTA debut, Marie Benson got her first start as a Lady Mav at Grambling (Nov. 18) and finished with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. She also added 7 boards, 2 steals and a block. In UTA's road win at Kansas State (Nov. 24), Benson finished with 16 points, three steals, two blocks and a pair of rebounds, as UTA knocked off K-State on the road.

NICE START
With their win at K-State on Nov. 24, The Lady Mavs secured the program's 3rd 4-0 start under Coach Gerlich. UTA also went 4-0 to start the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.

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 182 votes to rank No. 22 in the most recent top 25 (Nov. 26).

UTA is the lone Sun Belt program to be ranked in the top 25, while South Alabama (9) is receiving votes.

POWER 5 WIN
With their 57-53 win at Kansas State, the Lady Mavericks snapped K-State's (3-1) 10-game home winning streak over non-conference opponents. The win also gives the Lady Mavs their first win over a Power 5 school since 2006. UTA's last win over a Power 5 program came on Dec. 29, 2006 when they defeated Ole Miss, 66-55, at the Tulane Classic.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
The lady Mavs are limiting opponents to just 27.2-percent shooting, which ranks fourth in the country. UTA also ranks in the top 75 nationally in several other categories, including Assist-to-turnover ratio (61st; 1.09), Assists (21st; 18.5), FG% (29th; .471), rebounds (73rd; 43.3), scoring defense, (26th; 52.3) and steals (56th; 10.8).

SHUT 'EM DOWN
The Lady Mavs have held all four of their opponents this season below 55 points, while also limiting each of them to less than 31 percent shooting from the floor.
UTA has also forced their first four opponents into 14+ turnovers.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENTS
#8/9 LOUISVILLE
- Louisville is playing in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam for the second time in program history (1-1 all-time). They beat Hampton 63-55 on Nov. 26, 2004 and lost to NC State 54-49 on Nov. 27, 2004.
- Dana Evans (18.6 ppg) and Jazmine Jones (15.0 ppg) have provided quite the one-two punch as they are providing 41 percent of the scoring output. Evans has scored at least 12 points in every game and twice has led UofL in scoring, while Jones has scored at least eight points in every game and has also led in scoring three times. Jones (25 points) and Evans (24 points) both had career-highs in the win over CMU. Evans' previous career-high was 21 vs. NKU on Dec. 15, 2018, while Jones' previous career-high was 17, which she had done four times. They both had 20 points in the win over Boise State (Jones - 22, Evans - 20).
- Louisville has a +15.2 rebounding margin, which ranks ninth in the country. Their 19.2 offensive rebounds per game rank ninth and their 46.8 total rebounds per game rank 21st in the land.
- UofL won its 100th straight game against non-AP Top 25 teams on Sunday against Boise State. Their last loss was a 79-66 setback vs. unranked Dayton in the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. on 11/29/15.

#1/1 OREGON
- No. 1 Oregon is off to a 4-0 start, not including ahuge 93-86 upset of the USA National Team on Nov. 9.
- A game after she finished just one rebound shy, SABRINA IONESCU extended her NCAA all-time triple-doubles record on Nov. 16 vs. Texas Southern with the 19th of her career and first of her senior season. The reigning national player of the year racked up 10 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists - matching her best-ever assist total in a triple-double - while becoming the first collegian ever to have a triple-double in four different seasons. Through four games, Ionescu is just shy of averaging a triple-double with 14.3 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game and an NCAA-leading 9.5 assists per game.
- The Ducks opened the 2019-20 season with the first Associated Press No. 1 national ranking in program history, and remained on top of the poll on Monday after their historic exhibtion win over the USA WNT on Saturday. Oregon sat atop both the preseason AP poll and the USA Today coaches poll, and the Ducks also received preseason No. 1 rankings from espnW, NCAA.com, Sports Illustrated and SLAM, among others.

OKLAHOMA STATE
- Oklahoma State is 5-0 with four home wins and a road win at Tulsa (W, 78-48).
- In their last game, they defeated Rice 69-38 in Stillwater, Okla.
- They rank eighth in the country, allowing opponents to just a 28.5 percentage from the floor.
- They are giving up 47.6 points per game, which ranks ninth in the NCAA.
- The Cowgirls are committing just 10.2 turnovers per game, which ranks fifth in the country.
- Junior Vivian Gray was named to the preseason All-Big 12 team a year after being named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and a first-team All-Big 12 pick. Last season, she averaged 20.0 points per game and had 36 blocked shots. In five games this season, she is averaging a team-high 18.8 points per game. She is joined in double figures by junior Natasha Mack (14.0 ppg) and sophomore Ja'Mee Asberry (10.4 ppg).