ARLINGTON, Texas – UT Arlington Director of Athletics Jim Baker announced Tuesday (July 2) that head women's basketball coach Krista Gerlich has signed a contract extension. The new contract for Gerlich, who recently concluded her 6th campaign leading the Lady Mavericks, 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."

A 13-year head coaching veteran who owns a career record of 268-136 (.663), Gerlich has guided UTA to a 100-83 (.546) record during her tenure.

"I am so appreciative of the commitment Jim Baker and Dr. Karbhari are making to me and the women's basketball program," Gerlich said. "I believe we have something very special here and I look forward to continuing to win championships at UTA."

From her first season into the second, the Lady Mavs increased their win total by 13 from 4 wins to 17 wins, the second largest turnaround in Division I between the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. The Lady Mavericks battled through an injury-riddled 2015-16 campaign to post a 15-16 record. The team finished 34th nationally in scoring defense at 56.5 points per game - second in the Sun Belt.

Gerlich guided UTA to a 22-9 overall record, a second place finish in the Sun Belt and a berth to the postseason in 2016-17 as UTA went to the WNIT and participated in the postseason for the first time since 2009.

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.

The 2019 Sun Belt Coach of the Year and the Lady Mavs 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).

In the national rankings, the 2018-19 edition of the Lady Mavs ranked in the Top-50 nationally in multiple categories, including assists per game (17th), total assists (23rd), assist-to-turnover ratio (27th), scoring margin (35th), steals per game (35th), total steals (37th), FG percentage (37th), 3pt FG Percentage (37th), turnovers forced (39th), and win-loss percentage (43rd; .750).

Members of Gerlich's first recruiting class at UT Arlington, Rebekah VanDijk and Cierra Johnson have cemented their names in the UTA and Sun Belt record books. VanDijk, the 2015 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and easily one of the best post players in UTA history, became the first player in program history to record more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career on the way to setting the UTA all-time rebounding record with 1,117, breaking a record that stood since 1979. In the UTA record books her 1,658 points rank third all-time, 9.2 rebounds per game fifth, 661 field-goals made in second, 354 free-throws made third, 502 attempted first and 203 blocks second. Her 46 double-doubles are most in program history.

Cierra 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 the 2018-19 season to become the 19th woman in UTA history to join UTA's 1,000-point club. Johnson, who had a great redshirt senior season after tearing her ACL during the 2017-18 campaign, finished her career with 1,396 points to rank seventh all-time on 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.

Gerlich arrived at UTA following seven years as head coach at West Texas A&M, where she led the Lady Buff squad to a 168-53 record and five Division II National Tournament appearances, including an Elite 8 berth in 2008-09.