ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington women's basketball team completes a long road trip this weekend in Arkansas beginning on Thursday evening as they take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves inside First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro at 7 p.m.
 

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UT Arlington Game Notes  ///  Arkansas State Game Notes

3-POINTERS

• After sweeping in-state rival Texas State, the UT Arlington women's basketball team continues their road trip to Arkansas this weekend, taking on Arkansas State on Thursday evening. This weekend's games in Arkansas will conclude a string of five road games in six contests.
• It will be the 30th meeting between the Lady Mavs and the Red Wolves as the Lady Mavs have won eight straight games over Arkansas State, including four straight in Jonesboro. Arkansas State holds a slight 15-14 advantage in the all-time series, but UTA can even the series for the first time since 1986-87.
• UTA and Troy both sit at 5-2 in the Sun Belt Conference, which is the most wins this season. However, due to COVID and winning percentage, both teams trail Little Rock and App State in the standings, who both sit at 3-1 so far this season.

LAST TIME OUT: TEXAS STATE

• UTA completed teh season sweep over Texas State for the first time since 2018-19, using a 44-point second half to pull away for a 72-65 win.
• UTA shot 10 of 17 (.558) from the field in the third quarter including 3 of 5 (.600) from behind the arc.
• The Lady Mavs held a 23-12 advantage in points off turnovers as they turned Texas State over 16 times.
• UTA was 7 of 9 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter including 5 of 5 from Starr Jacobs.
• The Lady Mavs had 44 points in the paint.
• UTA held Texas State to 2 of 24 shooting from behind the arc.
• It is the eighth time this season Starr Jacobs has scored 20 or more points and the third time she has scored 25 or more.
• The 27 points was the most points scored in the third quarter this season.
• The 44 second half points ties for the most points in a second half this season, matching Rice on Dec. 4, 2021.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS STATE

• Arkansas State comes into the match-up at 10-9 overall and 3-3 in the Sun Belt Conference play.
• After winning three straight SBC match-ups over ULM, App State, and Coastal Carolina, the Arkansas State Red Wolves come off a tough 0-2 road weekend in Alabama, falling to South Alabama, 73-65, and Troy, 79-72.
• Matt Daniel resigned as head coach of A-State after a 4-6 start to the season. Destinee Rogers stepped in on an interim basis shortly after and has done nothing short of a remarkable job for the Red Wolves. Rogers is 6-3 on the season including 3-3 in SBC play.
• Arkansas State gets to the free throw line as they are second in the nation in free throw attempts at 410 and fourth in the country in free throws made at 291. They only trail Troy, who is the nation's leader in both categories.
• The Red Wolves are also one of the top rebounding teams in the nation as they come in 10th in the nation in total rebounds with 803.
• Trinitee Jackson has been a beast inside the paint when it comes to rebounds as she averages 4.1 offensive boards per game, good for 13th in the nation. Jackson is in the Top 50 nationally for total rebounds with 162.
• Four players average double-digit points for the Red Wolves in Keya Patton (14.3), Jireh Washington (12.2), Trinitee Jackson (11.9), and Morgan Wallace (10.8). Lauryn Pendleton is very close to a fifth player entering double figures as she averages 9.9. Patton has missed the last two games for A-State.
• Pendleton comes off a career-high 21 points in the loss to Troy, while Washington became the 26th player in A-State history to eclipse 1,000 points. Wallace eclipsed 1,000 points one game earlier against South Alabama.
• The Red Wolves were 9-12 a season ago and 4-10 in the SBC. UTA picked up four wins over Arkansas State a year ago with three of the contests won by 10 points or more.

1-2 PUNCH
The duo of Starr Jacobs and Terryn Milton has taken the Sun Belt Conference by storm in the early part of the conference season. 

In seven games this season, Jacobs comes in averaging 20.3 points per game and nearly two steals per contest while shooting .505 from the field. 

On the other end, Milton is averaging 11.7 points per game on .500 shooting to go with 3.7 assists per game, and 2.4 steals per game. More amazingly, Milton has averaged 32.1 minutes per game and has only turned it over eight times.

Jacobs has scored 10 or more points in all eight conference contests and has eclipsed 20 points or more in four of those contests. Meanwhile, Milton has scored 10 or more points in six of the eight contests and has at least one steal in all eight contests, while eclipsing two or more steals in four games.


TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS.... AND THE BALL
A key reason for the Lady Mavs' success this season has been protecting the basketball.

UT Arlington leads the SBC and is 42nd in the country in turnovers per game with only 13.8. They have not turned it over 20 or more times this season and have only gone over 15 turnovers as a team six times. 

UTA is first in the Sun Belt in assist-turnover ratio at 1.1 this season. In their 15 games played this season, UTA is 9-1 when they have a plus assists-turnover ratio and 8-0 overall when they have at least 15 assists or more as a team. 

The Lady Mavs are 1-4 this season when they have a negative assist-turnover ratio, including three losses by 10 points or more. The Lady Mavs have 10 or more assists as a team in 14 of 16 games this season, including a season-high 20 against Rice on Dec. 4.

Two point guards have been a key factor in protecting the basketball as Terryn Milton and Katie Ferrell are first and second in the SBC in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Milton sits at 14th in the country with a 2.54 assist-turnover ratio, while Ferrell is 26th in the nation at 2.33. In conference play, Milton has bolstered an incredible 3.3 assist-turnover ratio.


BIG KAT RANGE
Senior Katie Ferrell has caught fire from beyond the arc in her last six contests.

After going 2 of 18 (.111) to start the year from deep, Ferrell has gone 9 of 17 (.529) from beyond the arc and 7 of 12 (.583) in her last four games, making at least one 3-pointer in all of those games.

Ferrell has knocked down two or more 3-pointers in three conference contests, including three 3-pointers against Georgia Southern on Jan. 15. Her recent spurt has pushed her 3-point percentage over 30% as she is 11 of 35 (.314) beyond the arc this season.


FIVE STARR
Starr Jacobs has put together an unbelievable season by every metric thus far for the Lady Mavs.

Jacobs is 24th in the country in field goal percentage (.557), 23rd in the nation in field goals made (128), and 27th in the country in points per game (19.6). Jacobs is also 63rd in the NCAA and second in the Sun Belt in steals per game with 2.38.

Jacobs has scored 10 or more points in all 16 contests this season and 20 or more points in eight 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 16 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 40 of 52 (.769) 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.


RED HOT SECOND HALVES
In 10 of the 11 games the Lady Mavs have won this season, big scoring second halves have been a vital piece.

UTA has outscored their opponents in all ten of those halves, averaging 38.5 points while shooting 138 of 289 (.478) 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
TXST	15-34 (.441)	44	W, 72-65
TOTAL	138-289 (.478)	385	10-0

 

UTA combined to shoot 49 of 150 (.326) and shot under 40% for the half in their four of their five losses.

SHARING THE ROCK
Two all-time great guards continue to make their mark in the history book as Katie Ferrell and Terryn Milton continue to climb up the all-time assist ranks.

With an assist in the third quarter against Rice on Dec. 4, 2021, 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, 2021.

Against #13/17 South Florida on Dec. 2, 2021, Ferrell became the third Lady Mav in school history to eclipse 400 career assists.

Ferrell will have an outside chance to become the all-time leader in assists as she is 122 behind Krystal Buchanan.

Meanwhile, with her fifth assist in the third quarter against Texas State on Thursday night, 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 three contests, moving from eighth all the way to fifth in the month of January.

Milton is 18 assists away from passing Paige Smithers-Wojciak and moving to fourth all-time.

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, has 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.

Ferrell is currently fourth in the SBC in assists with 4.4 per game, while Milton is fifth in the Sun Belt in assists per game with 3.8.
 

Player	Year	Assists
1. Krystal Buchanan	2001-05	561
2. Katie Ferrell	2018-pres.	439
3. Terra Wallace	2003-07	409
4. Paige Smithers-Wojciak	1982-86	366
5. Terryn Milton	2018-pres.	348
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

 

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: 116
2. Troy: 108
3. UTA: 95
4. Arkansas State: 85
5. Louisiana: 82
6. Texas State: 80
7. South Alabama: 63
8. Georgia State: 59
9. App State: 58
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).