ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington women's basketball returns home for their second match-up against a nationally ranked opponent this season as they welcome in No. 13/17 South Florida to the College Park Center at 6 p.m.
3-POINTERS
- UTA will welcome in their second nationally-ranked opponents in 2021-22 as South Florida comes to the town ranked No. 13 in the country. UTA welcomed in No. 5 Baylor to open the season on Nov. 11.
- It is the first meeting between the Lady Mavs and the Bulls since 2005 and the fourth overall meeting. South Florida holds a 2-1 record in the all-time series, with UTA's lone win coming in Arlington by the score of 81-54 on Dec. 3, 1993.
- The Lady Mavs saw their four-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon in an 85-76 loss to Kansas City. UTA concludes the month of November with a 4-2 record, including thrilling wins over Houston, North Texas, and UNLV.
LAST TIME OUT: VEGAS NOTABLES
- UTA defeated host UNLV, 75-72, in a thriller before falling to a hot-shooting Kansas City, 85-76, at the UNLV Thanksgiving Classic this past weekend in Las Vegas.
- The Lady Mavs shot 14 free throws in the final 4:30 of the game against UNLV, going 9 of 14 (.642) at the line, including 5 of 6 (.833) from Claire Chastain.
- UTA held UNLV to their second-lowest scoring output of the season and their lowest output at home in 2021-22.
- It was UTA's first-ever win over UNLV in school history.
- Three-point shooting was the difference as Kansas City knocked down 12 3-pointers and shot 57% while UTA knocked down three 3-pointers and shot 19%.
- The Lady Mavs made a season-high 30 field goals against the 'Roos and shot a season-high .476.
- UTA combined for only 19 turnovers in two games in Vegas including a season-low nine against Kansas City.
SCOUTING SOUTH FLORIDA
- South Florida comes in ranked No. 13 in the AP Women's Basketball Poll and No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
- USF has one of the more impressive resumes thus far this season with wins over, at the time, No. 9 Oregon and No. 7 Stanford. The Bulls two losses came at No. 16 Tennessee by three and against No. 2 UConn by seven.
- Sydni Harvey was named AAC Player of the Week this week for her performance a week ago. In the two outings against Oregon and Stanford, Harvey averaged 18.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game, and shot 45 percent from the field, 63.6 percent from three-point range, and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line. Harvey hit the game-winning shot against Stanford with 2.8 seconds to play.
- Bethy Mununga had 23 rebounds in the win over Stanford, tying her career-high and marked the third 20-rebound game of her career. It is one rebound shy of the American Athletic Conference record and two shy of the program record.
- Elisa Pinzan had a career-high 26 points to go with 10 assists in the win over Oregon, while Harvey poured in 22 points. It was Pinzan's third career double-double.
- This will be game six of a seven-game road trip for the Bulls. They last played at home on Nov. 11. Four of those games came on a neutral site basis in the Bahamas.
- The Bulls went 3-1 in their Bahamas swing with wins over Stanford, Oregon, and Syracuse and their lone loss coming to UConn.
- The win over the Cardinal marked USF head coach Jose Fernandez's 397th of his career, three shy of 400. In his 22nd year as head coach of the Bulls, Fernandez's career coaching record is 397-278.
- The Bulls come off a 19-4 record in 2020-21, including a 12-2 mark in the AAC. They won both the regular season and tournament championships and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 1 seed North Carolina State, 79-67.
A STARR IS BORN
No player has quite made an impact quite like
Starr Jacobs has in her first six games with the Lady Mavs.
Jacobs is currently sixth in the nation in field goals made with 57, 11th in the country in points per game with 21.3, 17th in the nation in steals per game with 3.3, and 25th in the nation in field goal percentage at 60.6.
This past weekend in Las Vegas, Jacobs combined to go 26 of 41 (63.4%) from the field while averaging 27.5 points to go with 3.5 steals.
Jacobs added her name to the record books as her 14 made field goals against UNLV on Nov. 27 was good for the third-most all-time in a single game in UTA history. Her 12 made field goals against Kansas City on Nov. 28 tied her for ninth all-time.
Jacobs matched a season-high with 28 points at UNLV. Jacobs has also had three steals or more in five straight games. Sunday was Jacobs's third game with 25 points or more this season.
Additionally, Jacobs has been on a tear on the defensive end, averaging 3.3 steals per game and nearly four steals per game in her last three contests alone. Jacobs 37 steals are first in the Sun Belts and 37th in the country.
TERRYN MOVES TO 8TH, BIG KAT CLOSES IN ON 400
With her fifth assist in the first quarter on Nov. 28 against Kansas City, senior Terryn Milton moved into eighth all-time in career assists, passing Cierra Johnson. Milton finished with seven assists in the game to move to 317 career assists.
She has gotten off to an incredible start this season, averaging 5.0 assists per game, including a season-high nine against Sam Houston on Nov. 13, where she became the ninth Lady Mav in school history to eclipse 300 career assists.
Milton is only 15 behind Gale Haynes for seventh and 17 behind Shalyn Martin for sixth.
Milton is 49 assists away from moving as high as fourth all-time.
Senior Katie Ferrell continues to make her mark in the record book as she is also in the Top 10 in career assists and is now two assists away from becoming the third Lady Mav to reach 400 career assists.
Ferrell moved into third all-time in career assists after dishing out three in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament loss to App State last season, passing Paige Smith-Wojciak.
Ferrell inches closer to second all-time thus far in the 2021-22 season as she is only 11 behind Terra Wallace.
Ferrell will have an outside chance to become the all-time leader in assists as she is 161 behind Krystal Buchanan.
Milton and Ferrell become the second duo in school history from the same recruiting class to each have 300 or more assists in a career. Tamara Simmons and Shalyn Martin accomplished this feat in 2011.
Milton and Ferrell passed Simmons and Martin for the most assists by a duo in school history against Houston on Nov. 17, moving to 676, while Simmons and Martin are at 675. Milton and Ferrell became the first duo to surpass 700 combined assists in the win over UNLV.
| Player |
Year |
Assists |
| 1. Krystal Buchanan |
2001-05 |
561 |
| 2. Terra Wallace |
2003-07 |
409 |
| 3. Katie Ferrell |
2018-pres. |
398 |
| 4. Paige Smithers-Wojciak |
1982-86 |
366 |
| 5. Tamara Simmons |
2007-11 |
341 |
| 6. Shalyn Martin |
2007-11 |
334 |
| 7. Gale Haynes |
1993-97 |
332 |
| 8. Terryn Milton |
2018-pres. |
317 |
| 9. Cierra Johnson |
2014-19 |
315 |
| 10. Carolyn Smith |
1977-81 |
282 |
BREAKOUT BENJAMIN
Senior
De'Sha Benjamin found her mark in the last few weeks for the Lady Mavs.
After only averaging 6.3 points per game in her first three contests, with none of those marks leading to a double digit scoring outing, Benjamin has averaged 16.7 points per game and has scored in double digits in each contest.
Benjamin hit a career-mark against North Texas on Nov. 20 with 20 points and then matched that total on Sunday against Kansas City with another 20 point outing.
Benjamin, a transfer from Alabama, also has hit career highs in field goals made (7), field goals attempted (14), 3-point field goals made (4), and 3-pointer field goals attempted (8).
Against Kansas City, Benjamin was a perfect 5 of 5 at the free-throw line and has yet to miss a free throw this season, sitting at a perfect 13 of 13.
CALL CLAIRE
After only playing in three games last season and opting out due to COVID-19 concerns, senior
Claire Chastain returns to the floor for her final season and has made an impact on a talented squad.
Chastain has been terrific thus far this season, especially at the free-throw line. Chastain has been clutch at the charity stripe, going 17 of 20 in the fourth quarter or overtime. Additionally, Chastain is 11 of 13 in the final five minutes of a contest this season.
Against UNT, Chastain had 15 points, a season-high, to go with five boards. She had the game-tying put back in overtime with 54 seconds to go thanks to a strong offensive rebound and then knocked down the game-winning free throw with 0.7 seconds to play to give UTA the win on the road.
Against UNLV, Chastain was especially clutch as she was 4 of 4 in the final 13 seconds. Earlier, in the fourth, her two free throws had given UTA the lead for good.
WRIGHT NAMED NATIONAL COACH OF THE WEEK
Head Coach
Shereka Wright was named the WHoopDirt.com National Coach of the Week after the UT Arlington women's basketball team picked up a pair of huge wins this past week over Houston and North Texas to move to 3-1 overall.
On Nov. 17, the Lady Mavs went into the half trailing 38-23 and walked out of their home arena on the final buzzer a 69-66 winner in OT over Houston, erasing the 15-point deficit, their largest deficit erased since Jan. 19, 2017 when UTA rallied from 15 down against Louisiana to earn a 79-66 win.
They followed that up with their second-straight overtime game on Nov. 20, a first in school history, and defeated North Texas on the road, 75-74, after erasing an 11-point first half deficit.
It is the first time a UTA coach has been nationally recognized for a weekly award and the first major award since Krista Gerlich was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year in 2019.
HOME SWEET HOME
The UTA women have called the College Park Center home since February 1, 2012 when they defeated UTSA in their first contest in their new home arena, 51-40. Since then, the Lady Mavs have complied a home record of 82-51 including five seasons with 10 or more wins.
Since the 2016-17 season, the Lady Mavs have been remarkable at home as they have put together an impressive 57-14 record including a 37-6 record in Sun Belt play as they have not lost more than two games inside their home arena.
Lady Mavs Home Record
2021-22: 2-1
2020-21: 8-1
2019-20: 12-4
2018-19: 12-3
2017-18: 13-2
2016-17: 11-3
2015-16: 7-8
2014-15: 10-5
2013-14: 3-11
2012-13: 3-10
2011-12: 1-4
Total: 82-52
AMONG THE ELITE
UTA has been one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference year in and year out since joining the league in 2013-14. The Lady Mavs have been .500 or better every year except their very first season and have currently won 10 or more conference games in seven straight seasons, a conference-leading mark they hold with Troy.
1. Little Rock: 113
2. Troy: 103
3. UTA: 90
4. Arkansas State: 82
5. Louisiana: 79
6. Texas State: 77
7. South Alabama: 62
8. Georgia State: 58
9. App State: 55
10. Coastal Carolina: 41
11. Georgia Southern: 31
ULM: 31
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
UT Arlington built up a tough non-conference schedule in 2020-21 as 10 team docket includes three teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season, two teams who competed in the WNIT, and eight total teams who had a winning record in 2020-21.
All opponents are NCAA Division I teams, including two teams that won their conference championship and the WNIT Champion from a season ago. Two NCAA Tournament participants and both WNIT participants will visit the College Park Center.
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the women's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsWBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsWBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsWBB).
