ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington women's basketball team returns to the floor on Saturday afternoon as they take on Texas State in their second straight match-up, this time flipping locations to Strahan Arena in San Marcos.
3-POINTERS
- After an unbelievable win in which UT Arlington scored five points in 2.7 seconds to stun Texas State, the Lady Mavs will begin a four-game stretch beginning with a rematch on Saturday afternoon against the Bobcats.
- It will be the 79th meeting between the Lady Mavs and the Bobcats, the most against a single opponent in school history. UTA has won four of the last five, including Saturday's 69-67 victory. Texas State's lone win came last season in San Marcos as they rolled to a 66-45 on Feb. 12, 2021. The Bobcats have won two straight over UTA at home and three of the last four.
- The Lady Mavs moved back into first place in the Sun Belt Conference with their win on Thursday as Troy, Louisiana, and Arkansas State all fell on Thursday night. UTA is currently tied with Troy for first as they both sit at 4-2 overall.
LAST TIME OUT: TEXAS STATE
- UTA closed the game on an 8-1 run, including five points in the final three seconds to stun Texas State inside the College Park Center, 69-67.
- After scoring no points in the first half, Katie Ferrell scored all 12 of her points in the second half, including seven in the third quarter.
- Terryn Milton's three steals all came in the final 40 seconds of the contest.
- UTA finished with 17 assists as a team on the evening.
- The Lady Mavs were a red-hot 16 of 32 (50%) in the second half including three 3-pointers.
- UTA had a season high 17 steals on the evening as they forced Texas State into 26 turnovers.
- De'Sha Benjamin's 21 points set a new career-high and is her third 20 point game of the season. Her nine field goals made was also a season-high.
- The Lady Mavs have won four of the last five over Texas State and six in a row in the College Park Center.
- It is UTA's third victory when trailing by nine or more points in the second half this season.
- UTA improves to 5-2 inside the CPC this season.
SCOUTING TEXAS STATE
- Texas State has won two of their last three, sweeping the Georgia trip last weekend as they defeated Georgia Southern and Georgia State on the road. The Bobcats sit at 8-10 overall and 3-3 in the SBC.
- Da'Nasia Hood leads Texas State with 16.3 points per game and comes off a career weekend where she was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week.
- Hood, who was named the conference's player of the week for the second time in her career, averaged 29.0 points on 77.4 percent shooting while also averaging 9.5 rebounds, 2.0 steals, 1.5 assists and 1.0 blocks. She scored a career-high 32 points against the Eagles on 13 of 16 shooting and followed that up with a 26 point, 14 rebound performance against the Panthers.
- Hood is currently first in conference only scoring at 23.6 points per game as she has elevated her game thus far in the conference season.
- Texas State guard Kennedy Taylor is sixth in the country in total assists with 102 and 12th in the nation in assists per game with 6.0. On top of being a great facilitator, she is excellent on the defensive end, sitting 33rd in the nation with 40 steals and leading the SBC in steals per game at 2.35.
- Led by Taylor, Texas State is one of the top teams in the nation in assists as they are 19th in total with 284 and 23rd in assists per game at 16.7. Kennedy is averaging 7.2 assists per game in conference play.
- Last season, Texas State finished 11-11 overall and 7-8 in SBC play. They went on to reach the Sun Belt Quarterfinals before falling to defending champion Troy in overtime, 103-90. UTA and Texas State split their series last season.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Senior
De'Sha Benjamin was challenged going into Thursday's game against Texas State. After a tough stretch capped by one of her worst performances against Georgia Southern, finishing 0 of 8 from the field, Benjamin came off the bench and was a key factor to UTA pulling off the stunning comeback win over the Bobcats.
Benjamin finished with a career-high 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting. Her nine field goals were also a career-high for the senior from Augusta. Benjamin had a spurt of eight straight points in the second quarter and capped the night with the game-tying 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining followed by the game winner free throws with 0.9 seconds remaining.
FIVE STARR
Starr Jacobs has put together an unbelievable season by every metric thus far for the Lady Mavs.
Jacobs is 23rd in the country in field goal percentage (.570), 24th in the nation in field goals made (118), and 32nd in the country in points per game (19.1). Jacobs is also 62nd in the NCAA and second in the Sun Belt in steals per game with 2.40.
Jacobs has scored 10 or more points in all 15 contests this season and 20 or more points in seven games this season. Additionally, Jacobs has made five or more field goals in every single contest this season and shot above 50% in 11 of 15 games.
The one struggle Jacobs had at times this season was at the free throw line, but in the last few weeks, she has began to made an impact at the charity stripe.
Going into conference play, Jacobs was shooting 18 of 41 (. 439) from the free throw line. In her last five games, Jacobs has gone 38 of 48 (.791) from the line, including 6 of 6 against ULM.
In Las Vegas, Jacobs put together one of her best weekends as she combined to go 26 of 41 (63.4%) from the field while averaging 27.5 points to go with 3.5 steals. She scored 28 on 14 of 24 shooting against UNLV and followed that up with 27 on 12 of 17 from the field against Kansas City.
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.
BIG KAT MOVES TO 2ND
With an assist in the third quarter against Rice on Dec. 4, 2021, senior Katie Ferrell tied Terra Wallace for second all-time in career assists with 409.
Ferrell moved into sole possession of second place early in the first quarter against Oklahoma State on Dec. 17.
Against #13/17 South Florida on Dec. 2, 2021, Ferrell became the third Lady Mav in school history to eclipse 400 career assists.
Ferrell is currently fourth in the SBC in assists with 4.5 per game and first in assist/turnover ratio at 2.31. Her assist/turnover ratio is good for 34th in the nation.
Ferrell will have an outside chance to become the all-time leader in assists as she is 129 behind Krystal Buchanan.
TERRYN JUMPS TO 5TH ALL-TIME
With her fifth assist in the third quarter against Texas State on Thursday night, senior
Terryn Milton moved to fifth all-time in career assists, passing Tamara Simmons. Milton now sits at 342 assists in her career.
Milton has jumped three spots in the last three contest, moving from eighth, all the way to fifth. Milton is 24 assists away from moving into fourth all-time.
Milton is fifth in the Sun Belt in assists per game with 3.7 and first in the SBC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.29, also good for 36th in the country. She had a season-high nine assists against Sam Houston on Nov. 13, where she became the ninth Lady Mav in school history to eclipse 300 career assists.
Milton, along with Ferrell, have 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 at 676. They became the first duo to surpass 700 combined assists in the win over UNLV on Nov. 27.
| Player |
Year |
Assists |
| 1. Krystal Buchanan |
2001-05 |
561 |
| 2. Katie Ferrell |
2018-pres. |
436 |
| 3. Terra Wallace |
2003-07 |
409 |
| 4. Paige Smithers-Wojciak |
1982-86 |
366 |
| 5. Terryn Milton |
2018-pres. |
342 |
| 6. Tamara Simmons |
2007-11 |
341 |
| 7. Shalyn Martin |
2007-11 |
334 |
| 8. Gale Haynes |
1993-97 |
332 |
| 9. Cierra Johnson |
2014-19 |
315 |
| 10. Carolyn Smith |
1977-81 |
282 |
CLAIRE FIRES BACK
Senior
Claire Chastain has been in a tough shooting slump in the last few weeks. After scoring 10 or more points in four of the first seven games, Chastain had not reached double-figure scoring in six straight games.
It was a tough start again on Saturday against Georgia Southern as Chastain started the game 0-for-4 through 25 minutes of play against Georgia Southern. However, a flip switched in the third quarter and Chastain caught fire, scoring 15 points to lead a second half comeback on 5 of 8 shooting.
Chastain was especially great in the third quarter, helping erase a 13-point deficit. Chastain scored 12 points in the quarter, a season-high for the Lady Mavs this season, on 4 of 7 shooting, including an unbelievable four-point play to spark the run. She ended the half with a buzzer beating lay-up to put UTA up by six.
Chastain would go on to notch her second career double-double, finishing with 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
RED HOT SECOND HALVES
In nine of the 10 games the Lady Mavs have won this season, big scoring second halves have been a vital piece.
UTA has outscored their opponents in all nine of those halves, averaging 37.8 points while shooting 125 of 255 (.482) from the field.
| OPP |
FG % |
PTS |
RESULTS |
| SHSU |
14-27 (.518) |
39 |
W, 72-54 |
| UH |
13-26 (.500) |
38 |
W, 69-66 (OT) |
| UNT |
14-26 (.538) |
39 |
W, 75-74 (OT) |
| UNLV |
14-32 (.438) |
41 |
W, 75-72 |
| USF |
11-23 (.478) |
32 |
W, 61-56 |
| RICE |
15-30 (.500) |
44 |
W, 73-65 |
| ULM |
13-30 (.433) |
33 |
W, 72-56 |
| GSU |
13-29 (.448) |
35 |
W, 82-68 |
| TXST |
16-32 (.500) |
40 |
W, 69-67 |
| TOTAL |
123-255 (.482) |
341 |
9-0 |
UTA combined to shoot 49 of 150 (.326) and shot under 40% for the half in their four of their five losses.
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: 115
2. Troy: 107
3. UTA: 94
4. Arkansas State: 85
5. Louisiana: 82
6. Texas State: 80
7. South Alabama: 64
8. Georgia State: 58
9. App State: 57
10. Coastal Carolina: 43
11. Georgia Southern: 33
12. ULM: 31
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).
