FORT WORTH, Texas – The UT Arlington women's basketball team played a hard fought game but came up just short against 16th nationally ranked Oklahoma by a final score of 89-80.
It was a game of runs for both the Lady Mavs and the Sooners, as one team made a run, the other went relatively cold. Oklahoma led by as much as 19 points, but the Lady Mavs responded and briefly held a lead in the fourth quarter before running out of steam.
The Lady Mavs had three double-figure scorers led by
Starr Jacobs with 16 points.
Jireh Washington finished with 14 while
Nya Threatt chipped in with 12. Fifth year
Shyia Smith finished with seven points, five rebounds and four steals.
BOX SCORE NOTES
- Jacobs and Washington each finished with a team high six rebounds.
- Washington also finished with a game-high seven assists and five steals.
- The Lady Mavs shot 41-percent from the field, while shooting 43-percent from the three-point line.
- The Sooners outrebounded the Lady Mavs 44 to 34.
- UTA forced Oklahoma into 29 turnovers for the game, but only managed 28 points off those turnovers.
- The Lady Mavs had 44 points in the paint.
- The Sooners had 40 fast break points compared to the Lady Mavs' nine.
GAME FLOW
It was a slow start for the Lady Mavs, coming out cold in the first quarter shooting 28-percent from the field. Defensively, the Lady Mavs forced the Sooners into eight turnovers but were only able to score four points off those turnovers in the first quarter.
The scoring picked up for the Lady Mavs in the second quarter, shooting 41-percent from the field as they were able to score 10 points off the Sooners' five turnovers.
The Lady Mavs were 4-8 from the three-point line at the half and put up 40 shots compared to OU's 30. The Sooners shot 19 free throws, making 14 of them heading into halftime while outrebounding the Lady Mavs 29 to 17. The Sooners had 17 second chance points before the break. By the half, UTA forced OU into 13 turnovers.
Coming out of the locker room, a quick 3-pointer by
Kayla White, a steal by Smith and a layup from Washington within a minute cut the Sooners' lead down to seven points, 48-41. The teams went back and forth for the majority of the third quarter as the Lady Mavs found themselves down just seven going into the last stretch.
UTA kept chipping away at Oklahoma's lead with some timely defense as the Lady Mavs found themselves within one before tying it and then eventually taking the lead 74-73 with four minutes left in the game. The lead was short lived as the Sooners hit a jumper to take back the lead 75-74 and never relinquished it after that.
NEXT UP
The Lady Mavs will head to Daytona Beach, Florida for the Daytona Beach Invitational where they will face Cincinnati on Friday, Nov. 25 followed by Toledo on Saturday, Nov. 26.
