ARLINGTON – In front of a tremendous crowd invited out to the College Park Center on Sunday evening, the 14th-seeded UT Arlington Lady Mavs learned they will head to the Ames Region to take on No. 3-seeded Iowa State in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 18 at 9 PM on ESPNU.
"I'm so excited for our program, our university, and our athletic department," said Head Coach
Shereka Wright. "We had a great turnout tonight to celebrate this opportunity we have. It's been a great year to say the least. Our story has been awesome and it's not finished yet. We are excited to be a 14 seed and head to Ames."
For Maverick Club members who are interested in tickets, click on the link attached above. For more questions, please contact Maverick Club Director
Kyle Callender at
kyle.callender@uta.edu or 817-272-0694.
It has been 15 long years since the Lady Mavs heard their names called on Selection Sunday, but it was a cause for celebration on this evening as UTA now turns its attention to The Big Dance.
Joining UTA and Iowa State in the Ames Region is No. 6 Georgia who will face the No. 11 winner between Dayton and DePaul as part of the First Four match-up.
Under Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year
Shereka Wright in her second season, UTA has put together an outstanding 20-7 season, including its first-ever Sun Belt Tournament Title and UTA's first league postseason title since 2007. SBC Player of the Year and Tournament MVP
Starr Jacobs leads the Lady Mavs with 21.1 points per game, good for 12th in the nation. All-conference selection
Terryn Milton adds 12 points and 4.5 assists per game.
Iowa State comes in with their best regular season in school history at 26-6 overall and 14-4 in the Big 12 under Bill Fennelly in his 27th season. The Cyclones are led by First Team All-Conference selection Ashley Joens with 20.2 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per contest, while Lexi Donarski was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, averaging 14.2 points per game.
UT Arlington fell in the first round to No. 4 Texas A&M in their last appearance in the NCAA Tournament by the score of 58-50 on Mar. 17, 2007, in Los Angeles. UTA's only other appearance came in a 69-49 loss in the first round to No. 4 Texas Tech on Mar. 19, 2005, in Dallas. The Lady Mavs were a 13 seed in both appearances.
UT Arlington made it a memorable final trip around the sun as the 2nd-seeded Lady Mavericks raced out to a double-figure lead in the first quarter and never cooled off en route to dominant 76-61 victory over top-seeded Troy last Monday inside the Pensacola Bay Center to win the 2022 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Championship and earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
For the 19th-consecutive year, an ESPN channel will broadcast all 67 games of the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship. This marks the 27th-straight year (since 1996) ESPN is the championship's exclusive television home. All games will be available online via the ESPN App as well. The 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four is expected to be distributed to over 200 countries around the world.
The 2022 championship will be the first to have 68 teams. First Four games will be played Wednesday, Mar. 16, and Thursday, Mar. 17, at four of the top-16 host sites. First- and second-round games will be played Friday, Mar. 18, through Monday, Mar. 21, at the top-16 seeds.
Regional games will be played Mar. 25-28, with Greensboro, N.C., (Greensboro Coliseum) and Spokane, Wash., (Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena) hosting regional semifinal and final games on Mar. 25 and 27, while Bridgeport, Conn., (Webster Bank Arena) and Wichita, Kansas, (Intrust Bank Arena) will host Mar. 26 and 28. The Women's Final Four will be played Friday, Apr. 1, and the national championship game is Sunday, Apr. 3 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
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).
