ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington Lady Mavs will open the 2019-20 season with a Homecoming matchup against the Cougars of Chicago State on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 9). Tip-off for the contest is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

Matchup: UTA (0-0) vs. Chicago State (0-1)
When: Saturday, November 9 | 2:30 p.m.
Where: College Park Center | Arlington, Texas
Live Video (ESPN+) [Ron Thulin (Play-by-Play), Mike Pedersen (Analyst] | Live Stats

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

UP NEXT
UTA will hit the road for three straight games (at North Texas, at Grambling, at Kansas State) and three neutral site games (vs. Louisville, vs. Oregon, vs. Oklahoma State) in the Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam (Nov. 28-30).

SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE
The Cougars, who went 2-28 last season, opened the 2019-20 campaign with a 96-66 loss at Illinois on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Tyeshia Bowers led CSU offensively, finishing with a team-best 24 points, while Kourtney Crane and Ines Mata Boix added 17 and 12, respectively. Bowers also dished six dimes on the day, while Mata Boix finished game one of the season with a double-double, pulling down a team-best 10 boards.

SUN BELT PRSEASON 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

CHALLENGING 19-20 SLATE
- UTA will play two teams that finished the year ranked in the top 7 in both the AP and USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll: Oregon, Louisville.
- The Lady Mavs will face seven teams that finished the year ranked in the NCAA RPI Top-100: No. 3 Louisville, No. 5 Oregon, No. 33 Kansas State, No. 59 Wright State, No. 61 Little Rock, No. 92 Troy and No. 98 South Alabama.
- The Lady Mavericks will take on 12 teams that participated in a 2019 Postseason Tournament
* NCAA TOURNAMENT [Kansas State, Louisville (Elite 8), Oregon (Final 4), Wright State, Little Rock]
* WNIT [Northwestern (Runner-Up), South Alabama, Troy]
*WBI [North Texas (Runner-Up), App State (Champion), Coastal Carolina, Georgia State]

SIGN HERE PLEASE
UT Arlington Director of Athletics Jim Baker announced this summer that head coach Krista Gerlich signed a contract extension. The new contract for Gerlich will run through the 2022-23 season.

"We're excited to have Coach Gerlich remain the leader of our Lady Mavs," said Baker. "Her passion and excitement for UTA is contagious. She has built the Lady Mavericks into a contender in the Sun Belt Conference and we are very excited about the future of the program. This past season was tremendous as we won the program's first Sun Belt title and participated in the Postseason WNIT, but I believe we've just scratched the surface for the type of success we could have."

BALLIN' OVERSEAS
Former UTA women's basketball standout Cierra Johnson, who is represented by NVEA Management, has signed her first professional contract to play for Mark Basket Marbo Kinna in Sweden.

Also known as BK Marbo, the club is located in Kinna, Sweden – a town of roughly 15,000 people located in the southwest part of the country. BK Marbo competes in the Damligan, Sweden's domestic women's basketball league.

As a senior, the 2019 Sun Belt All-Conference First Team selection averaged 15.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game, while shooting .489 from the field, .373 from three-point range and a team-high .838 from the charity stripe. She ranked in the top 100 nationally in free throws made (27th; 145), free throw percentage (53rd; .838), free throw attempts (55th; 173), total steals (73rd; 68), field goal percentage (75th; .489) and steals per game (87th; 2.13).

Johnson, the lone Lady Mav to be named SBC Defensive Player of the Year and SBC Player of the Year during her career, scored her 1,000th career point at Oral Roberts during her senior season to become the 19th woman in UTA history to join UTA's 1,000-point club. The Bedford, Texas native finished her career with 1,396 points to rank seventh all-time on the UTA career list and 315 assists to rank 6th all-time in Sun Belt history. She also finished with her collegiate career as the program's all-time leader and steals (318), which placed her third all-time in the SBC.

A SEASON TO REMEMBER: 2018-19
UTA is coming off of arguably the most successful season in program history (2018-19). The Lady Mavs secured the program's first Sun Belt Regular Season championship, made their sixth postseason tournament appearance (WNIT) and won a postseason (excluding conference tournaments) game for the first time in program history with their WNIT First Round triumph over Stephen F. Austin (60-54; Mar. 21). UTA finished the season with 24 wins, which tied for the most in a single season with the 2006-07 squad (24-9 overall, Head Coach Donna Capps) and were ranked No. 25 in the final CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll.

Coach Gerlich, the 2019 Sun Belt Coach of the Year, and the Lady Mavs UTA finished the 18-19 campaign leading the Sun Belt Conference in scoring margin (+11.0), field goal percentage (44%), three-point percentage (35.7%), assists per game (17.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2).

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE
UT Arlington Athletics officials revealed a UTA Basketball All-Access ticket package as part of its 2019-20 season tickets for men's and women's basketball which is on sale now and does not feature a price increase from 2018-19.

The UTA Basketball All-Access package starts at just $99 and includes a ticket to all 29 men's and women's regular-season games at the College Park Center this upcoming season – an incredible value of less than $3.50 per game. In addition, men's only and women's only season tickets are also now on sale.

Fans can secure their season tickets by visiting UTATickets.com. For additional information regarding season tickets, please contact UTA Box Office officials at boxoffice@uta.edu or (817) 272-9595.

UTA BASKETBALL ALL-ACCESS (Includes Men's & Women's)
* Includes a $250/per seat contribution to the Maverick Club
^ Includes access to the Hospitality Suite, but must be at the $500 giving level

Floor: $600* (Subject To Availability)
Club: $600*^
Sections 102/109: $450*
Sections 101/103/108/110: $150
Sections 104-107: $99

WOMEN'S ONLY
Floor: $99 (Subject To Availability)
Sections 101-103 & 108-110: $75
Sections 104-107: $50

SINGLE-GAME TICKETS ON SALE
UTA women's basketball single-game tickets are on sale for the 2019-20 season. Single-game tickets are $6 for general admission (Sections 104-107) and $10 for reserved seating (Sections 101,102, 103, 108, 109, 110) for fans over the age of three, while children two and under get in free.

Fans can purchase their tickets by visiting UTATickets.com. For additional information regarding single-game tickets, please contact UTA Box Office officials at boxoffice@uta.edu or (817) 272-9595.

Group tickets range from $3-5 each for groups of 10 or larger depending on the section. For more information regarding group tickets and group packages contact Assistant Director of Marketing & Outbound Sales Jeremy Malnes at jeremy.malnes@uta.edu or 817-272-9607.

UTA faculty and staff enjoy a discounted ticket price of $3, while current UTA students receive free admission to all home, regular season games through Gate 1 with a valid UTA student ID.

FOLLOW THE LADY MAVS
For the latest news on UTA Women's Basketball, log on to UTAMavs.com or stay connected to the Lady Mavs on social media. Follow the Lady Mavericks on Twitter @UTAMavsWBB, on Instagram @UTAMavsWBB and on Facebook at Facebook.com/UTAMavsWBB.