RIVERSIDE, Calif. ---The UT Arlington women's basketball team (6-6) will open Western Athletic Conference (WAC) play on Thursday at 8 p.m. CT against California Baptist (4-7) inside the CBU Events Center. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
BACK TO THE WAC
For the Lady Mavs, it will be their first regular season WAC game since March 9, 2013 as UTA spent one year as a member of the conference in the 2012-13 season, finishing 4-14 in league play and tying Texas State for ninth in the regular season standings. UT Arlington spent the past nine seasons (2013-22) as a member of the Sun Belt Conference, where they are the reigning tournament champion. Prior to their initial WAC tenure, the Lady Mavs were a 48-year member of the Southland Conference (1963-2012) – of which it was a founding member.
New Mexico State, UTA and Seattle U are the only three current WAC schools that were also members of the league in 2012-13.
2012-13 WAC Membership (Current Affiliation)
Denver (Summit)
Idaho (Big Sky)
Louisiana Tech (Conference USA)
New Mexico State
San Jose State (Mountain West)
Seattle U
Texas State (Sun Belt)
Utah State (Mountain West)
UT Arlington
UTSA (Conference USA)
2022-23 WAC Membership
Abilene Christian
California Baptist
Grand Canyon
New Mexico State
Sam Houston
Seattle U
Southern Utah
Stephen F. Austin
Tarleton
UT Arlington
UT Rio Grande Valley
Utah Tech
Utah Valley
CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The UT Arlington women's basketball team wrapped up a tough non-conference slate on Dec. 21 with a loss to No. 16 Arizona. It was the third nationally-ranked team the Lady Mavs have played as they fell to No. 16 Oklahoma 89-80 on Nov. 20 and No. 19 Baylor on Dec. 7.
On top of that, UTA went on the road and nearly upset Kansas, who are 10-1 this year after losing their first game of the season in triple OT to Nebraska on Dec. 21. In that game against the Jayhawks, the Lady Mavs trailed by just one twice late in the fourth quarter, the second time which came on a layup from
Starr Jacobs with 3:36 left before falling 79-74. Then, in the Maggie Dixon Classic against the Sooners, the Lady Mavs took a 74-73 lead with four minutes left in the game on a jumper from
Jireh Washington, but Oklahoma went on a 5-0 run and closed the game on a 16-6 spurt.
On Nov. 26 in Daytona Beach, UT Arlington lost to Toledo, a team that defeated No. 19 Michigan on Dec. 8 and has opened the season 9-2 behind a six-game winning streak. Last year, the Rockets won the regular season MAC title with a 19-1 record before finishing the season 29-6.
UT ARLINGTON BY THE NUMBERS
Milestone Wins
100th - 65-50 vs Texas Woman's – 11/13/79
200th - 64-51 vs Texas Wesleyan – 2/2/87
300th - 73-55 vs Nicholls State – 2/15/96
400th - 67-63 at Louisiana Monroe – 2/1/03
500th - 54-41 vs Texas A&M - Corpus Christi – 1/26/08
600th - 65-58 vs Appalachian State – 2/13/16
700th - 60-40 at Arkansas State – 2/26/21
By The Decade
1972-82: 147-135 (.521)
1982-92: 109-165 (.398)
1992-02: 135-141 (.489)
2002-12: 169-132 (.562)
2012-22: 161-131 (.551)
2022-present: 6-6 (.500)
Overall: 727-710 (.506)
TRIO LEADS THE WAY
The Lady Mavs are led offensively by the trio of
Starr Jacobs (14.8 PPG),
Jireh Washington (13.1 PPG) and
Kayla White (12.8 PPG), who have combined for over 40 PPG through 12 games.
Jacobs, a member of the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List, has been a steady force in her second season with the program. While leading the team in scoring, she is also tied with
Shyia Smith for the team-high in rebounding at 5.8 per contest while swiping 2.7 steals and dishing out two assists on average. Overall, she has produced 10 games with double-digit points, including a pair of 20-point performances - highlighted by a season-best 29 against Toledo that was the first of two double-doubles for the forward.
Washington, a fifth-year transfer guard from Arkansas State who missed five games due to injury following the Toledo contest, returned against Arizona and tallied six points and a pair of assists in 15 minutes off the bench. It was a welcome sight for the Lady Mavs as she led the team in scoring, assists and steals at the time of her injury. She tallied double-digit points in her first five games before missing time, and she is currently averaging 13.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.7 steals. In the season opener against Texas Southern, she registered 11 assists, which was just the 12th time a player has notched that many in a game in program history. One game later, she had a season-best 22 points against Texas A&M-Commerce.
White, a lightning-fast fifth-year transfer from SMU, has had several big outings. She poured in a team-best 16 points in a key road win over Houston, including several big baskets down the stretch. One game before that, she poured in a season-best 20 points in a home win over North Texas. Despite missing two games due to illness in December, she has totaled seven games with 10+ points this year, including 13 against No. 16 Arizona.
TALEYAH BREAKS OUT
Freshman guard
Taleyah Jones, who has scored in double-figures three of the past four games, is the team's leading scorer in the month of December with 13.8 per contest. On top of that, she is a team-best 6-of-12 from long distance in the month. She is coming off a 12-point outing against No. 16 Arizona, which followed an explosive performance against Texas A&M - Texarkanas where she became just the 11th freshman in NCAA Division I play this year to score at least 30 points in a game. Including Florida State's Ta'Niya Latson, who has achieved the feat three times, the following 12 players have now combined for 14 such instances this year.
Gabi Fields, Northern Colorado - 36 vs Colorado State
Ta'Niya Latson, Florida State - 34 vs Texas Southern
Mara Braun, Minnesota - 34 vs Lehigh
Ta'Niya Latson, Florida State - 34 vs Kent State
Jazmyn Stone, College of Charleston - 32 vs Charleston Southern
Ali Saunders, Valparaiso - 32 vs UAB
Ta'Niya Latson, Florida State - 32 vs Florida
Raven Preston, Elon - 31 vs Davidson
Mya Hansen, Boise State - 31 vs BYU
Kylie Lavelle, Drexel - 31 vs La Salle
Kenley McCarn, UT Martin - 31 vs Troy
Taleyah Jones, UT Arlington - 30 vs Texas A&M - Texarkana
Cotie McMahon, Ohio State - 30 vs South Florida
Darianna Littlepage-Bugges, Baylor - 30 vs Tennessee State
GOUDEAU STEPS UP
Alexsyah Goudeau, a freshman guard who has started the team's past six games, is averaging just over six points and 3.5 rebounds over a stretch that saw her tally three consecutive eight-point outings after making her first career start. She also grabbed a season-best six rebounds against Baylor.
SMITH DOUBLES UP
Fifth-year senior
Shyia Smith tallied her first double-double in a Lady Mav uniform against Houston, registering 13 points and 12 rebounds. Including her time at Wichita State, it was the second one of her career and her third overall double-digit rebounding effort. After tallying nine more rebounds against Lamar, she leads the team on the glass with 5.8 per contest this year. Earlier this year, Smith also scored the game-winning layup with 16 seconds left in the team's 75-72 win over Texas A&M – Commerce.
GIPSON COMES UP BIG
Kamaria Gipson, a transfer from San Diego State, notched her second double-digit rebounding effort of the season with 10 against Baylor. Earlier this season, she earned her first start as a Lady Mav against Texas A&M – Commerce and produced 13 points, 12 rebounds and a game-high four blocks for her first career double-double. Overall, Gipson has continued to make a solid impact, registering at least seven rebounds in four games while averaging five points and 4.6 rebounds per contest this year, the latter of which is third on the team.
AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS
The Lady Mavs rank among the top 75 teams nationally in four categories: free throw attempts per game (15th, 23.25), free throws made per game (33rd, 15.08), steals per game (53rd, 10.3) and turnovers forced per game (65th, 19.58).
EXPERIENCED LINEUP
UT Arlington has used a starting lineup four times this year consisting of
Starr Jacobs,
Jireh Washington,
Shyia Smith,
De'Sha Benjamin and
Kayla White, which is a group of players who have now comprised 454 games of NCAA Division I experience. If you include the 42 games that Jacobs played at Temple College, an NJCAA Division I school, the group has 496 games of collegiate experience.
OPENING WITH HISTORIC OFFENSE
The 102 points that UT Arlington scored in the season-opening win over Texas Southern represented the most the program has ever produced in a season opener and fell just one shy of the overall single-game record. It was the eighth time the Lady Mavs have reached the century mark in 50-plus seasons of basketball. In fact, it was the most points they've scored in a game in nearly 25 years dating back to a 102-point outing against UTRGV on Jan. 26, 1998.
The Lady Mavs are now 25-26 all-time in season openers, as well as 37-14 in home openers. It was the seventh-consecutive season they opened the season at home, and they are 8-1 over the past nine openers.
CATEGORY LEADERS
PPG
Starr Jacobs – 14.8
Jireh Washington – 13.1
Kayla White – 12.8
Shyia Smith – 8.2
Taleyah Jones – 7.7
RPG
Shyia Smith – 5.8
Starr Jacobs – 5.8
Kamaria Gipson – 4.6
De'Sha Benjamin – 3.9
Jireh Washington – 3.7
Kayla White – 3.7
APG
Jireh Washington – 5.6
Starr Jacobs – 2.0
Kayla White – 1.7
Nya Threatt – 1.4
Shyia Smith – 1.1
De'Sha Benjamin – 1.1
SPG
Jireh Washington – 2.7
Starr Jacobs – 2.7
Kayla White – 1.7
Alexsyah Goudeau – 1.1
De'Sha Benjamin – 1.0
Taleyah Jones – 1.0
BPG
Kamaria Gipson – 0.8
Shyia Smith – 0.7
Bella Ringenberg – 0.5
WAC PRESEASON AWARDS
As a team, UT Arlington was tabbed to finish second in the WAC in a preseason vote by the league's coaches and media behind defending champion Stephen F. Austin.
| 2022-23 WAC Preseason Coaches Poll |
| Rk. |
Team (1st-Place Votes) |
Pts. |
| 1. |
Stephen F. Austin (9) |
140 |
| 2. |
UT Arlington (2) |
126 |
| 3. |
Grand Canyon (2) |
124 |
| 4. |
California Baptist |
107 |
| 5. |
Abilene Christian |
86 |
| 6. |
Southern Utah |
83 |
| 7. |
Sam Houston |
70 |
| 8. |
Utah Valley |
69 |
| 9. |
UTRGV |
56 |
| 10. |
NM State |
46 |
| 11. |
Tarleton |
44 |
|
Utah Tech |
44 |
| 13. |
Seattle U |
19 |
Preseason Player of the Year
Aiyana Johnson, Grad, F/C, Stephen F. Austin
Preseason First Team All-WAC
Trinity San Antonio, So., G, California Baptist
Aaliyah Collins, So., G, Grand Canyon
Madelyn Batista, Sr., F, Sam Houston
Tomekia Whitman, Sr., G, Southern Utah
Aiyana Johnson, Grad, F/C, Stephen F. Austin
Starr Jacobs, 5th, F, UT Arlington
Breaunna Gillen, Sr., G, Utah Tech
Emily Isaacson, Sr., G/F, Utah Tech
2022-23 Preseason All-WAC Second Team
Bella Earle, So., G, Abilene Christian
Tiarra Brown, Jr., G/F, Grand Canyon
Chyna Allen, Grad, G, Sam Houston
Cherita Daugherty, Grad, G, Southern Utah
Jireh Washington, 5th, G, UT Arlington
Kayla White, 5th, G, UT Arlington
Iyana Dorsey, So., G, UTRGV
Shay Fano, Jr., F, Utah Valley
| 2022-23 WAC Preseason Media Poll |
| Rk. |
Team |
| 1. |
Stephen F. Austin |
| 2. |
UT Arlington |
| 3. |
Grand Canyon |
| 4. |
California Baptist |
| 5. |
Abilene Christian |
| 6. |
Sam Houston |
| 7. |
Utah Tech |
| 8. |
Southern Utah |
| 9. |
Utah Valley |
| 10. |
Tarleton |
| 11. |
UTRGV |
| 12. |
NM State |
| 13. |
Seattle U |
Preseason Player of the Year
Starr Jacobs, 5th, F, UT Arlington
Preseason All-WAC Team
Madi Miller, Grad, G, Abilene Christian
Trinity San Antonio, So., G, California Baptist
Aaliyah Collins, So., G, Grand Canyon
Aiyana Johnson, Grad, F/C, Stephen F. Austin
Zya Nugent, Sr., G, Stephen F. Austin
Starr Jacobs, 5th, F, UT Arlington
Jireh Washington, 5th, G, UT Arlington
Breaunna Gillen, Sr., G, Utah Tech
RESTOCKING THE PANTRY
While UT Arlington returns seven players from last year's roster (six that saw action), the Lady Mavs are replacing six players, highlighted by three key outgoing transfers -
Terryn Milton (Oklahoma State),
Claire Chastain (Oklahoma State) and
Katie Ferrell (Texas Tech).
Milton, Chastain and Ferrell comprised UTA's second, fourth and sixth leading scorers while Ferrell, Milton and Chastain were the second, third and fourth top rebounders, respectively. If that isn't enough, Milton, Ferrell and Chastain - in that order - were the top three assist producers on the team.
In total, UT Arlington will have to replace over 40 percent of its contributions in five key categories:
Scoring - 44.5 percent
Rebounding - 60.5 percent
Assists - 75.2 percent
Steals - 52.5 percent
Blocks - 66.7 percent
A STARR RETURNS
Among the six players the Lady Mavs return who saw action last year,
Starr Jacobs leads the pack. The fifth-year senior not only broke the program's single-season scoring record, but she became the only player in the nation to average at least 21 points, two steals and 1.5 assists per game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. On top of that, she joined Aneesah Morrow (DePaul) as the only two players nationally to average at least 21 points and two steals per game while shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Furthermore, Jacobs and Naz Hillmon (Michigan) were the only two players to average 21 points and 1.5 assists per game while shooting at least 50 percent. She is the top returning mid-major scorer in the nation.
With that resume, Jacobs became the first player in program history to be named to the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award's preseason watch list. She was selected as the WAC's Preseason Player of the Year by the media and ESPN.com's Charlie Crème while being tabbed Preseason First Team All-WAC by the coaches.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT US
Two other key returners who started a combined 30 games last year are
De'Sha Benjamin and
Shyia Smith. Benjamin (9.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG) was the team's third-leading scorer and is the team's top returning 3-point shooter at .356 (32-for-90) while Smith (6.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG) shot .486 from the field last year, which was second on the team behind Jacobs (.542). Another returner,
Reniya Jones, made 9-for-25 from long distance, or .360 last year.
WE'RE HERE
With the loss of Milton, Ferrell and Chastain, UT Arlington head coach
Shereka Wright used the transfer portal to sign three key players -
Jireh Washington, a 5-9 fifth-year guard from Arkansas State,
Kayla White, a 5-10 fifth-year guard from Southern Methodist, and
Kamaria Gipson, a 6-3 junior center from San Diego State.
Washington, who earned preseason First Team All-WAC recognition from the media and Second Team All-WAC honors from the coaches, averaged a career and team-best 14.3 points as a senior in 2021-22 while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from long distance. Averaging double-digit points all four seasons, she had a pair of huge performances against the Lady Mavs last season, pouring in 28 points along with five rebounds and four assists on Jan. 27 before adding 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists on Feb. 26. The 2019-20 Third Team All-Sun Belt selection averaged 12.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.3 APG and 1.7 SPG game in her career, which included totals of 1,171 points, 387 rebounds, 312 assists and 161 steals. After finishing her Red Wolf career with 81 points over the final three games, Washington will look to have a major role for UTA this year.
Similar to Washington, White joins the Lady Mavs as a fifth-year transfer this season after four standout years at SMU, where she averaged 13.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last year en route to Third Team All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) recognition. On Jan. 13, she poured in a career-best 34 points against East Carolina, en route to finishing second on the team and ninth in the AAC in scoring. She tallied six 20-point performances and reached double-digit scoring 18 times. Overall, her 1,068 career points ranks 22nd all-time at SMU.
Gipson should provide a presence in the post for the Lady Mavs after leading San Diego State in blocks (19) last year while averaging 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds. She also shot .456 from the field over 28 games (18 starts). At the prep level, she poured in 2,655 career points at A.C. Jones High School in Beeville, Texas, which is the 32nd most in the state's high school history.
TALENTED DUO
The Lady Mavs signed two talented high school seniors to national letters of intent in early November, Miraya Perkins and Aubrey Reid. Perkins, who attends Boswell High School in Dallas, Texas, is ranked as the No. 36 overall recruit in the state of Texas, where she averaged 15 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.1 steals and two assists as a junior. One of five children, her father Sam Perkins played basketball at North Carolina from 1980-84 and in the NBA from 1984-2001 with four teams, finishing his professional career with more than 15,000 points and nearly 8,000 rebounds. Reid, a 5-11 point guard from Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas, is the No. 30 overall recruit in the state of Texas. She averaged 13 points, five rebounds and four assists as a junior.
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