NEW ORLEANS – Junior
Starr Jacobs was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, while Head Coach
Shereka Wright earned SBC Coach of the Year Honors and senior
Terryn Milton earned Second Team All-SBC honors as voted on by the head coaches on Monday morning.
"What a great time to be apart of the UT Arlington Athletics," said Head Coach
Shereka Wright. "I'm so proud of Starr and Terryn's honors. They were an integral part of our success this season."
Jacobs is the second UTA player to ever take home the conference's top honor and the first to win the award outright. Cierra Johnson was the SBC Co-Player of the Year in 2018-19.
Jacobs has been nothing short of outstanding this entire 2021-22 season.
"Starr has come into our program and put a stamp on it since day one," said Wright. "She has made great strides and continues to mature everyday. The sky is the limit as her game will continue to get better."
Jacobs, a junior from Dallas and former Duncanville product, finished the regular season with 20.3 points per game on .551 shooting from the field to go with 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals. She is the first player in Lady Mavs history to finish the regular season averaging 20 points or more and will look to finish through the postseason with that threshold. She averaged 20.9 points per game in conference play and shot .525 from the field while pulling down 6.3 boards.
Jacobs is 18th in the nation in points per game, 22nd in the nation in field goals made (194), 25th in the nation in field goal percentage, 28th in the nation in free throw attempts (159), 46th in the nation in total points, and 67th in the nation in steals per game with 2.29.
Jacobs has scored 10 or more points in all 24 contests this season and has scored 20 or more points in 14 games this season, including two games with 30 or more points. Additionally, Jacobs has made five or more field goals in every single contest this season and shot above 50% in 18 of 24 games.
Jacobs is a four-time SBC Player of the Week selection this season. She scored 32 in a huge road win over Arkansas State on Jan. 27 before following that up with 33 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists, and a block in the win over App State on Feb. 6. She was also named to the NCAA Starting 5 after her terrific performance against App State.
Jacobs has scattered her name all over the record book this season. She has third-most made field goals in a game (14), as well as sixth and 11th, the third-most field goal attempts in a game (25), the 10th most points in a game (33), and is heading towards becoming the first player in school history to average over 20 points per game in a season.
Milton, a senior from Owasso, has put together a career year in her final season.
"Terryn has been Miss Consistent for her team since the start of the season," said Wright. "She has taken on a leadership role and has been one of the best point guards in the Sun Belt. She has definitely left her mark on this program."
Milton averages 11.9 points per game to go with 4.7 boards, 4.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and is shooting .468 from the field and .389 from beyond the arc. Milton has been a big piece in UTA being one of the best teams at protecting the basketball as she is 12th in the country with an outstanding assist-turnover ratio of 2.59.
Meanwhile, Milton has shot up the career assists numbers in the school's record book, going from ninth when she started the season all the way up to fourth, where she currently sits. She currently sits with 393 assists and can become the fourth player to surpass 400 career assists in school history, joining teammate
Katie Ferrell.
Milton has completely rewritten her career-high in 2021-22, finishing with new marks in points (26 vs. Houston), field goals made (four times this season), rebounds (10 vs. Troy), free throws made (10 vs. Houston), steals (five vs. ULM), blocks (four at Georgia Southern), and double-doubles (three this season). She almost tied her career mark in assists as she had 11 on Senior Day this past weekend.
Wright becomes the second coach to earn SBC Coach of the Year as Krista Gerlich earned that distinction during the 2018-19 season.
"I'm incredibly blessed and humbled to be named Coach of the Year," said Wright. "All the credit goes to be my staff and players for helping be the best mentor and leader for this program."
Wright led UTA to a 17-7 record, including an 11-4 mark in conference play to finish second this season. She became the second coach in school history to lead UTA to back-to-back 10-win seasons in conference play in her first two seasons (Samantha Morrow).
Wright helped bolster an incredible road record this season as she led her squad to a school-record 9-2 true road record, good for an impressive .818 win percentage away from home.
She also led UTA to a historic win, leading the Lady Mavs to their first-ever win over a ranked opponent, defeating #13/17 South Florida, 61-56, on Dec. 2. A win that put UTA women's basketball on the map. Wright also instrumented opening the season with national powerhouse Baylor, which led to the largest crowd ever at the CPC for a standalone women's basketball game (2,216).
The 2nd-seeded UT Arlington women's basketball team will begin its 2022 Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of No. 7 Georgia Southern and No. 10 Georgia State on Friday, Mar. 4, at 7:30 p.m. from the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Fla.
2022 Sun Belt Women's Basketball Awards
Coach of the Year: Shereka Wright, UTA
Player of the Year: Starr Jacobs, UTA
Defensive Player of the Year: Ty'Reona Doucet, Louisiana
Freshman of the Year: Lauryn Pendleton, Arkansas State
Newcomer of the Year: Alexia Allesch, App State
Sixth Woman of the Year: Terren Ward, Georgia Southern
All-Sun Belt Conference Teams (ties were not broken)
First-Team All-Sun Belt Conference
Aja Blount, Coastal Carolina
Ty'Reona Doucet, Louisiana
Starr Jacobs, UTA
Da'Nasia Hood, Texas State
Felmas Koranga, Troy
Second-Team All-Sun Belt Conference
Alexia Allesch, App State
Sali Kourouma, Little Rock
Terren Ward, Georgia Southern
Terryn Milton, UTA
Kennedy Taylor, Texas State
Third-Team All-Sun Belt Conference
Janay Sanders, App State
Mayra Caicedo, Little Rock
Trinitee Jackson, Arkansas State
Makayia Hallmon, Louisiana
Kyren Whittington, ULM
Amber Leggett, Troy
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