Box Score LAFAYETTE, La. – The UT Arlington women's basketball team used a huge first-half run to build a lead as big as 15 and held off a furious rally by Louisiana to take a 62-60 road win inside the Cajundome on Thursday evening.
With the win, UT Arlington moves to 7-3 overall, and 1-0 in Sun Belt Conference play while the Ragin' Cajuns fall to 8-3 overall and 0-1 in the SBC.
Junior
Starr Jacobs was terrific as she finished with 24 points on 9 of 18 shooting to go with five boards and two steals, while senior
Camryn Hawkins was huge off the bench with 12 points, including three 3-pointers, four rebounds, and a steal.
Senior
Katie Ferrell did it all with two points, seven assists, six rebounds, and five steals, including the game-winning swipe on the Louisiana inbounds pass to run out the clock with a win.
Senior
Claire Chastain added nine points and four boards, while senior
De'Sha Benjamin had seven points and six rebounds. Senior
Terryn Milton added six points and five assists, including the go-ahead lay-up with 41 seconds to play. Senior
Emma Halverson scored two off the bench with four rebounds.
Destiny Rice had 17 points with seven rebounds and four assists, while Ty'Reona Doucet had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Tamera Johnson and Lanay Wheaton each added 10 points.
It was fireworks in the first four minutes as both teams came out firing on the offensive end to a 10-10 game. Ferrell, Benjamin, and Jacobs all got on the board in the early going.
Hawkins would then come off the bench and give the Lady Mavs a huge boost as she connected on a pair of 3-pointers followed by finishing a lay-up on a steal from Jacobs to push a 22-16 lead.
That momentum went into the second quarter. As UTA clung to a 29-26 lead, the Lady Mavs opened up a huge 10-0 run as Jacobs had seven points, completely taking over the game and giving UTA a 39-26 lead with 3:23 to play in the half. Chastain added a deep ball during the run.
UTA maintained that lead the rest of the half and went into the break leading 41-28.
The Lady Mavs stayed ahead for the first half of the third quarter as they ballooned their lead as high as 15. However, fouls began to mount up on UTA, and Louisiana began to chip away at the deficit.
The Cajuns got it down to eight with 4:14 to play, before a huge lay-in from Jacobs followed by Hawkins' third 3-pointer pushed the lead back to 13. Louisiana scored the final three points of the quarter as UTA led 56-46 going into the final frame.
The Lady Mavs went ice cold in the fourth quarter as they started 0 of 7 while Louisiana found a rhythm and went 5 of 8 to cut the deficit down to one at 57-56. Jacobs, who was on the bench with four fouls, returned and responded with a huge lay-in to move ahead 59-56.
Both teams would struggle, but Louisiana would score the next four points in the next three minutes to retake the lead for the first time since the first quarter as 60-59 with 1:07 to play. Milton responded on the other end with a beautiful drive into the paint with a strong finish. She then forced a traveling violation on the other end to retake possession with 31 seconds to play.
A questionable jump ball gave Louisiana a chance to move ahead, but great interior defense and a strong Hawkins rebound led to free throws on the other end. Hawkins knocked down 1 of 2 to move the lead back to two with six seconds to play.
After a foul to give moved the clock to three seconds, Ferrell stepped in front of an inbounds pass in front of the Louisiana bench to run the clock out and give UTA a thrilling 62-60 win.
BOX SCORE NUGGETS
- Starr Jacobs' 20 points was her fifth outing of 20 or more points this season.
- The Lady Mavs finished 15 assists on the night and 10 steals as a team while forcing Louisiana into 17 turnovers.
- UTA knocked down five 3-pointers as a team after going 0-for-9 in their last outing against Oklahoma State.
- The Lady Mavs used a 10-0 run to break open a double-digit lead in the second quarter. Louisiana used a 10-1 run to begin the fourth quarter to get it back down to one.
- The Lady Mavs shot 9 of 15 (60%) in the first quarter.
- Jacobs picked up her four fouls in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
- UTA held a 20-6 advantage in fast break points.
- UTA led for 35:10 of the game.
- The starting lineup returns to Milton, Chastain, Benjamin, Ferrell, and Jacobs and moved to 6-1 on the season.
NOTABLES
- UTA cuts the series to 15-13 and have won four of the last five. The Lady Mavs move to 6-3 inside the Cajundome.
- It is UTA's first win in their conference opener since 2019-20. They are now 3-5 all-time in SBC season openers.
- Jacobs 11 second quarter points matched a team season-high for points in a quarter.
- Hawkins eight first quarter points eclipsed her season-high.
- Ferrell's five steals matches a season-high for UTA this season.
- UTA's 21 second half points is a season-low.
- Jacobs came into the game shooting .439 from the free throw line. Her 6 of 8 (.750) from the line on this night was a season-high.
- Hawkins was +11 off the bench.
QUOTABLES
"I am very proud of our kids for staying in the gameplan. We had a lot of days off and we needed this game experience. We had some big players step up in critical times. We'll take this road win and we'll learn a lot from this and carry it over into the next game." -
Shereka Wright
"I couldn't wait to get back on the court. I think we were all ready to play again after all we had been through. It was fun to play and we weren't as tired as we thought we were going to be." -
Starr Jacobs
NEXT UP
UTA will wrap up a three-game road trip with another SBC foe in ULM. Tip-off from the Faint-Ewing Coliseum is set for 2 p.m.
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).
