ARLINGTON – The UT Arlington Lady Mavs made it six in a row on Thursday afternoon as they rolled past ULM for a 77-50 victory inside the College Park Center.
In front of 3,382 screaming fans on Kids Day, UTA moved to 15-5 overall and 9-2 in the Sun Belt Conference as they rode hot shooting all afternoon to the win.
Junior
Starr Jacobs scored 17 points and pulled down eight boards with four steals, while senior
Shyia Smith poured in a season-high 15 points with seven rebounds. Senior
De'Sha Benjamin scored 11 points off the bench with five rebounds and three assists, while senior
Claire Chastain scored seven to go with five assists.
Senior
Katie Ferrell, senior
Camryn Hawkins, and freshman
Reniya Jones all had six points, while senior
Terryn Milton had five points, five rebounds, and four assists. Freshman
Jordyn Turner added four points and two steals off the bench.
Kyren Whittington led ULM with 15 points and six rebounds, while Kierra Crockett added 10 points.
UTA wasted no time as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead behind points from Milton and Jacobs and maintained that lead at 11-6 throughout the first five minutes of play. The Lady Mavs were a little sloppy in the opening quarter but caught fire towards the tail end.
Coming out of the media timeout, Benjamin buried a 3-pointer to push the lead to eight. After a UTA free throw, Hawkins knocked down a triple before Benjamin continued her hot spell with her second 3-pointer in as many minutes.
Jones capped the hot first half with a 3-pointer of her own as the Lady Mavs knocked down four 3-pointers and used a 17-2 run to end the quarter to take a 24-8 lead at the end of one.
The Lady Mavs did not let it throughout the second quarter as the offensive barrage continued behind a balanced scoring attack. UTA built its lead as high as 19 and went into the break leading 42-24.
The trio of Jacobs, Smith, and Benjamin built the lead out to 23 in the third quarter and then pushed that mark over 30 points in the fourth quarter as the Lady Mavs were able to empty their bench on the day, cruising to the 77-50 victory.
BOX SCORE NUGGETS
- UTA shot 29 of 54 (54%) from the field. It is the second time this season the Lady Mavs have shot over 50% in a game after doing so on Jan. 27 against Arkansas State.
- The Lady Mavs shot over 50% in every quarter, the first time they've done so this season.
- UTA shot a season-high 9 of 16 (.563) from behind the arc. Their nine 3-pointers are the most they've made in a game this season.
- Katie Ferrell, Camryn Hawkins, De'Sha Benjamin, and Reniya Jones all knocked down two 3-pointers each.
- Additionally, UTA held ULM to 0 of 7 from behind the arc. It is the second time they've held an opponent to no 3-pointers this season. (Troy on Jan. 8).
- Eight different Lady Mavs scored at least five points, a season-high (Jacobs, Smith, Benjamin, Chastain, Ferrell, Jones, Hawkins, Milton).
- UTA outrebounded its opponent for the fourth straight game, 39-35. They are now 7-0 when they outrebound their opponent.
- The Lady Mavs finished with 21 assists as a team. It is the third time in the last four games they have 20 or more assists.
NOTABLES
- Shyia Smith went for a season-high 15 points on a season-high 6 of 8 shooting to go with seven rebounds, including three offensive boards.
- After a career-high seven assists in her last game, Claire Chastain finished with five assists on the afternoon. She is averaging 6.0 per game in her last two contests.
- Senior Emma Halverson had a career-high three blocks.
- Terryn Milton officially passed Paige Smithers-Wojciak for fourth place on the career assists list after her first assist in the first quarter.
- UTA has now won 15 straight over ULM and has taken the series lead for the first time since winning the first contest over ULM in the 1980-81 season. They lead the series 35-34 now.
- UTA has won six in a row for the first time since the 2019-20 season, where the Lady Mavs closed the season with seven straight wins.
- Katie Ferrell knocked down two more 3-pointers on Thursday afternoon to go 13 of 20 (.650) in her last eight games.
- UTA has shot over 40 percent from the field in eight straight contests, including two games where they shot over 50 percent. They have made over 20 field goals in those contests as well.
QUOTABLES
"We got so many dynamics and pieces. I think what makes this team fun to coach is that they accept roles and there's no jealousy. And I want to commend my players for that and more so with Claire and Shyia). Roles have to change a little bit and they've accepted that and that's why we are having success. I appreciate them buying into it and that's what makes it special. Hopefully we are sitting here and talking about a championship soon." -
Shereka Wright
"I feel more confident. It was tough being out. Coming back, I push myself every day in practice to get back to where I'm at. My teammates give me that boost." -
Shyia Smith
"It's just fun with this team. Everyone has their own scoring capabilities. I have all the confidence in the world in my teammates and it makes it easy to share the ball." -
Claire Chastain
NEXT UP
UTA is back home on Saturday afternoon for a huge match-up against Louisiana. Tip-off from the CPC is scheduled for 2 p.m. and tickets are still available at
UTATickets.com.
Gallery: (2-10-2022) Women's Basketball vs. ULM
FOLLOW ALONG
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