MONROE, La. – The UT Arlington women's basketball team completed a perfect weekend in Louisiana as they rolled past ULM on the road, 72-56, on Saturday afternoon inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
The Lady Mavs move to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the Sun Belt while the Warhakws fall to 4-12 overall and 0-2 in the SBC.
Junior
Starr Jacobs finished with 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting to go with three assists, while senior
Emma Halverson had a huge day off the bench with 11 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Senior
Terryn Milton had 10 points and five steals, while senior
De'Sha Benjamin added seven points, seven boards, and three assists. Seniors
Katie Ferrell,
Claire Chastain, and
Shyia Smith each had six points, while Ferrell added eight boards.
Kyren Whittington had 18 points and Bre Sutton had 11 points and two steals to lead ULM.
UTA got off to a slow start in the first four minutes of the game as ULM raced out to a 10-2 lead. The Lady Mavs used a spark from their bench and got things rolling in the next six minutes as they used a massive 16-0 run to flip the script and take an eight point lead of their own at 18-10, thanks in part to back-to-back 3-pointers from Ferrell and a corner three from Chastain.
The Lady Mavs got their lead at high as 11 in the opening period and took a 23-14 lead going into the second quarter.
Jacobs began to heat up in the quarter as she scored seven points, while Halverson scored four as UTA held serve throughout the period to take a 39-30 lead at the break.
ULM made a cut into the deficit early in the third quarter, getting the game to 43-38, but the Lady Mavs responded with another big run as a 10-0 pushed the lead to 15 at 53-38. UTA used strong defense and rebounding and turned it into fast break baskets to take complete control of the game.
That carried into the fourth quarter as the Lady Mavs used strong free throw shooting and strong defense to push their lead as high as 20 to close the game out and take the 72-56 win.
BOX SCORE NUGGETS
- Starr Jacobs' 20 points was her sixth outing of 20 or more points this season. She averaged 22.0 points per game in her first pair of conference games.
- UTA outrebouned ULM 39-38, the first time they have outrebounded an opponent since the USF game on Dec. 2. It is the third time they've outrebounded an opponent this season.
- It is the second straight game UTA finished with 10 steals.
- The Lady Mavs had 12 offensive rebounds on the afternoon. It is their first double digit offensive rebounding outing since Nov. 20 against North Texas.
- UTA held a dominant 27-9 advantage in points off turnovers as well as a 24-2 edge in fast break points.
- 10 different Lady Mavs scored in the contest.
- After UTA took the lead with 4:03 to play in the first quarter, they never relinquished it again as they led the remaining 34:03.
NOTABLES
- UTA evens the series with ULM at 34 and have won 14 straight over the Warhawks including eight straight on the road.
- The Lady Mavs conclude a four-game roadtrip and will return to the College Park Center next weekend.
- Emma Halverson finished with a season-highs in points (11), rebounds (8), and steals (2), while matching a career-high in assists (4).
- Halverson was +19 off the bench, while Camryn Hawkisn was +12 off the bench.
- Jacobs came into the Louisiana road trip shooting .439 from the free throw line, and proceeded to go 12 of 14 (.857) from the line including 6 of 6 against the Warhawks.
- It is the second consecutive game a player from UTA finished with five steals as Terryn Milton had five in the contest including four in the first quarter.
- Freshman Stephanie Mosley scored her first career points in a UTA uniform in the fourth quarter.
- UTA forced ULM into 18 turnovers and are forcing conference opponents into 17.5 turnovers per game.
QUOTABLES
"We did not start the game very well and I made that known. We got to play our whole entire bench and they got to see different things. We got stops when we needed to and we'll take that and continue to learn." -
Shereka Wright
"We wanted to bring a lot of energy into the game after the slow start. We definitely did that." - Emma Halverson
NEXT UP
UTA returns home on Thursday for the first time since Dec. 4 as they welcome in South Alabama. Tip-off from the CPC is set for 7 p.m., and tickets are still available at
UTATickets.com.
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).
