ARLINGTON, Texas – The Lady Mavs head to Fort Worth to battle in-state foe TCU with a spot in the WNIT Round of 16 on the line. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday (March 23) afternoon at the Ed & Rae Schollmaier Arena.

WNIT | 2ND ROUND | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Matchup: UTA (24-7) at TCU (21-10)
When: Saturday, March 23 | 2 p.m.
Where: Ed & Rae Schollmaier Arena (6,700) | Fort Worth, Texas
Live Video | Live Stats | Tickets

POSTSEASON WNIT
The Women's National Invitation Tournament is an annual tournament involving 64 of the nation's top women's Division I basketball teams. All games, including the semifinals and championship, are hosted by participating schools. Every round is single elimination.

The Postseason WNIT features 32 first-round games, followed by 16 second-round games, eight third-round games, four quarterfinal games, two semifinal games, and the championship. The championship game is televised live nationally. The event offers 32 automatic berths, one to each established conference, and 32 at-large berths.

POSTSEASON WNIT HISTORY
The Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament began in 1998 with 16 teams playing for a postseason crown. The event has undergone four expansions throughout which its mission has remained the same: To give deserving teams a quality opportunity to play exciting games for a postseason title.

Following the inaugural year, the field doubled to 32 teams and remained that way until 2006 when a renewed commitment was made to schools. The WNIT expanded to a 40-team field to give spots to teams that won their regular-season conference title but did not win their conference tournament and therefore were excluded from the NCAA Tournament.

The WNIT furthered that commitment to conferences in 2007, when it expanded to 48 teams and awarded an automatic berth to each conference. The number of at-large berths remained at 17 until 2010, when the WNIT felt that the level of women's basketball warranted an expansion to the 64-team field.

LADY MAVS IN THE WNIT
UTA is participating in the postseason WNIT for the fourth time in program history (1999, 2009, 2017).

The 2019 WNIT marks the first time in program history that the Lady Mavericks have hosted a postseason WNIT game.

The Lady Mavs are 1-3 all-time in the WNIT. UTA fell on the road at Baylor (71-60; 1999), at Oklahoma State (82-72; 2009) and at Tulane (62-53; 2017), before securing the program's first postseason tournament win over SFA (60-54) on March 21.

1999
UTA at Baylor | L, 71-60

2009
UTA at Oklahoma State | L, 82-72

2017
UTA at Tulane | L, 62-53

2019
SFA at UTA | W, 60-54

UTA/TCU ALL-TIME SERIES
Saturday will be the 27th all-time meeting between UTA and TCU. The Horned Frogs own a 17-9 edge in the series, including a 15-3 record in Fort Worth.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | TCU HORNED FROGS
• The Horned Frogs are making their seventh WNIT appearance and fifth in the last six seasons. They are 10-6 all-time in the WNIT and advanced to the semifinals of the tournament a year ago.
▪ TCU is 7-1 all-time at home in the WNIT, including wins over Lamar and Missouri State last season and Prairie View A&M this year.
▪ The Frogs are 17-9 all-time against UT Arlington, last defeating the Lady Mav, 81-39, on Dec. 8, 2010.
▪ TCU has recorded its 13th 20-win season in school history and its first back-to-back 20-win seasons since 2009-10/2010-11 after winning 23 games last season.
▪ The Frogs are looking for the ninth 22-plus win season in program history. After winning 23 games a year ago, they would reach that mark in back-to-back season for just the third time with a win Saturday.
▪ TCU leads the Big 12 in turnovers forced (18.16), turnover margin (+2.97) and steals (9.8), ranks second in both blocks (5.6) and assists (15.6) and third in scoring defense (60.8).
▪ The Frogs rank seventh in the NCAA and second in the Big 12 with 5.6 blocks per game. They are 10th in the country with 173 total blocks.

20+ WINS & EYEING A PROGRAM RECORD
UTA's 60-56 OT win at ULM on Saturday, Feb. 23 secured the squad's 20th win of the season and made the Lady Mavs the first Sun Belt team to hit the 20-win plateau.

The Feb. 23rd win also gave the Lady Mavericks the 10th 20-win season in program history and the 2nd of Coach Gerlich's UTA tenure.

UTA is one win away from breaking the program record for wins in a season. The Lady Mavs tied the program record (24 wins; Donna Capps led Lady Mavs squad in 2006-2007 (24-9 overall)) on Thursday, March 21 with their 60-54 win over SFA in the first round of the WNIT.

100
UTA head coach Krista Gerlich secured her 100th win at UTA with the Lady Mavs' 60-54 win over SFA in the opening round of the WNIT. Coach Gerlich now has a 100-82 record as the leader of the Lady Mavs program and is 20 wins away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in UTA women's basketball history.

SUN BELT REGULAR SEASON CO-CHAMPS
Coach Gerlich and the Lady Mavs wrapped up the 2018-19 regular season with a 23-6 overall record (15-3 SBC). UTA, with a hard-fought 44-41 win at Texas State, earned the program's first Sun Belt regular season crown (4th overall; Southland Conference Regular-Season Titles in 2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09).

A LIL POSTSEASON HARDWARE
Just days after securing the program's first Sun Belt regular reason title, the UTA women's basketball team saw head coach Krista Gerlich and redshirt-senior Cierra Johnson receive Sun Belt postseason accolades. Coach Gerlich was named the league's Coach of the Year for the first time, while C. Johnson was named Co-Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Sun Belt First Team.

Voting for the Sun Belt individual awards and All-Sun Belt teams were conducted by the league's 12 head coaches along with a selected media panel.

Little Rock's Ronjanae DeGray and C. Johnson were voted Sun Belt Co-Players of the Year. Troy's Sky'Lynn Holmes was named Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year, Louisiana's Brandi Williams was voted Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and Georgia State's Allison Johnson was named Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year.

Coach Gerlich and the Lady Mavs wrapped up the 2018-19 regular season with a 23-6 overall record (15-3 SBC). UTA, ranked No. 25 in the last CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Poll, earned the program's first Sun Belt regular season crown (4th overall; Southland Conference Regular-Season Titles in 2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09) and have won 20+ games for just the 10th time in program history. The Lady Mavericks also won 11 of their last 12 games to close the regular season.

As a team, UTA finished the regular season leading the conference in scoring margin (+12.8), field goal percentage (.451), three-point field goal percentage (.378), assists (17.3) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2), while also ranking in the top-3 in multiple categories, including scoring, scoring defense, blocks and steals.

Johnson, the 2017 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year, missed the majority of last season due to a knee injury, but she returned for her final year at UTA and has started every game for the Lady Mavs and led the team in scoring (15.0), steals (58) and free-throw percentage (.829) during the regular season. C. Johnson is now UTA's leader in career steals and is ranked third all-time in Sun Belt history in steals with 308, and counting. Earlier this season she became the 19th woman in UTA history to join the 1,000-point club and now ranks 8th on UTA's all-time scoring list with 1,340 career points. The Bedford, Texas native has scored in double figures in 16 of the last 17 games (22 games total) and notched a career-high 31 points to go with a career-best 12 boards in an 88-65 win over Troy (March 2).

LAST TIME OUT | LADY MAVS KNOCK OFF SFA FOR HISTORIC WIN (MAR. 21)
The UTA women's basketball team picked up a historic 60-54 win over SFA in the opening round of the WNIT on Thursday night at the College Park Center.

With the win, the Lady Mavs advance to the second round to face TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m. The win also gives head coach Krista Gerlich her 100th victory at UTA, secured the program's first postseason tournament victory and gave the Lady Mavs 24 wins on the season, which ties the program's all-time single-season win total (2006-07; 24-9 overall, Head Coach Donna Capps).

Cierra Johnson finished with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 from behind the arc and a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe. C. Johnson also added five steals and three boards in 28 minutes. Daiane Machado chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Aysia Evans added seven points and a pair of assists. Katie Ferrell registered six points, six boards, three assists, three steals and a block.

The Ladyjacks (25-7) jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead on the second of two first-quarter treys by Chanell Hayes. SFA knocked down 80 percent of their shots in the opening quarter of play, but the Lady Mavericks (24-7) would stay in the game by doubling the number of shots SFA attempted and forcing the Ladyjacks into five first period turnovers. As a result, the game was tied 19-19 heading into the second quarter of play.

UTA opened the second quarter on a 15-2 run, increasing their lead to 34-21 with nearly five minutes left in the second quarter. SFA then used a 15-2 run of their own to tie the game at 36-36 with 23 seconds left in the half. A buzzer beating turn-around jumper from Ferrell gave the Lady Mavericks a two-point lead, 38-36, at the intermission.

The Lady Mavs would extend their lead to 47-41 midway through the third quarter, but a 5-0 run by SFA to close out the third quarter cut the UTA lead down to three points (49-46) heading into the fourth.

Trailing UTA 49-46 to start the final quarter, the Ladyjacks opened with a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the contest since the opening quarter, as a pair of layups and a jumper forced UTA to call a timeout trailing 52-49.

C. Johnson's three-point play tied the game at 54-54, before Evans' jumper gave UTA a 56-54 lead (4:22). The Lady Mavericks would hold SFA scoreless the rest of the way to pick up the 60-54 victory.

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