PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 2 seed UT Arlington women's basketball team eyes a Sun Belt crown on Monday afternoon as they take on top-seeded Troy in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game at 1 p.m. on Monday afternoon on ESPNU.
3-POINTERS
- The UT Arlington Lady Mavs will compete in their fifth conference championship in school history and their first in the Sun Belt Conference as they battle No. 1 seed Troy for the crown on Monday, March 7 inside the Pensacola Bay Center at 1 p.m.
- UTA and Troy met earlier this season inside the CPC with the Trojans taking advantage of a poor shooting performance from the Lady Mavs en rout to a 59-48 win. Troy leads the overall series 9-5 and has won the last two meetings over UTA. Troy is the defending tournament champion and has won three of the last five tournament titles.
- UTA is 2-2 all-time in conference championship games with their last appearance coming in 2009. All those appearances came in the Southland Conference with championships won in 2005 and 2007.
LAST MEETING AGAINST TROY
- UTA dropped a tough conference bout with Troy on Jan. 8 inside the CPC by the score of 59-48.
- The Lady Mavs started the game 7 of 14 (.500) in the first seven minutes of the game. They went on to go 11-for-56 (.196) the rest of the way.
- UTA pulled down a season-high at the time in rebounds with 45 and offensive rebounds with 18.
- After finishing with 20 or more fast break points in back-to-back conference games, the Lady Mavs only had four fast break points on that day.
- The Lady Mavs forced 18 Troy turnovers and finished with nine steals as a team led by four from Terryn Milton and three from De'Sha Benjamin.
- UTA finished with a season-low 24 points in the paint. It is the first time this season they finished with under 30 points in the paint.
- Terryn Milton was the first player of the season to go for a double-double. Her 10 rebounds are a new career-high.
- The Lady Mavs held Troy to 59 points, their lowest offensive output of the season. The Trojans came in averaging 82.2 points per game at the time.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
UTA carries a 22-30 overall mark in conference tournament play between the Southland, WAC, and Sun Belt. The Lady Mavs will make their fifth appearance in the championship game, with the previous four coming in the Southland Confernece, winning the title in 2005 and 2007.
UTA had struggled as of late in tournament play, losing five of their last six games with three of those losses coming in the first contest as the higher seed. However, they have turned a corner in this tournament, taking care of business with a quarterfinals win over Georgia Southern and a semifinals win over Louisiana.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Lady Mavs have been unbelievable on the road this season. After a win at Coastal Carolina on Feb. 19, UTA concluded the best true road record in program history at 9-2, good for an .818 winning percentage.
During a stretch that played over December and January, UTA went 6-2 on the road, including an impressive 6-1 road mark in conference play. Head Coach
Shereka Wright has now produced two straight seasons of winning records on the road.
| Season |
Record |
Win % |
| 2021-22 |
9-2 |
.818 |
| 2020-21 |
5-4 |
.555 |
| 2019-20 |
9-4 |
.692 |
| 2018-19 |
12-4 |
.750 |
| 2017-18 |
5-9 |
.357 |
| 2016-17 |
9-5 |
.642 |
| 2015-16 |
8-7 |
.533 |
| 2014-15 |
7-7 |
.500 |
| 2013-14 |
1-14 |
.066 |
UTA was terrific on the road in conference play, going 7-1 this season with its only loss coming by one point.
JACOBS CROWNED PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Starr Jacobs was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as well as First Team All-SBC after what's been an oustanding seasons from the junior forward.
She has been nothing short of outstanding this season.
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.
WRIGHT NAMED COACH OF THE YEAR
Head Coach
Shereka Wright was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Mavs.
Wright becomes the second coach to earn SBC Coach of the Year as Krista Gerlich earned that distinction during the 2018-19 season.
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.
MILTON NAMED TO 2ND TEAM ALL-SBC
Terryn Milton earned a spot on the Second Team All-SBC Team after the point guard finished with an incredible season.
Milton, a senior from Owasso, has put together a career year in her final season.
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.
DOING IT ALL
Senior
Claire Chastain has been getting involved in many different ways the last few weeks, hitting numerous career highs in different categories throughout the conference season and now in the SBC Tournament.
Chastain has been unreal in the SBC Tournament, averaging 14.5 points per game and going 6 of 9 (.669) from beyond the arc. She has set a new season-high with three 3-pointers in both the Georgia Southern and Louisiana games.
She then began to get it done with assists as she went for a new career-high with seven against App State on Feb. 6 before following that up with five a few days later against ULM on Feb. 10.
She kept that going into the Louisiana game on Feb. 12 as it was a block party for Chastain, going for a career-high five blocks against the Cajuns, the fourth-most in a single game in school history.
Chastain was at it again against Coastal on Feb. 19l, going for a season-high three steals in the win and followed that up with a season-high 16 points against Arkansas State on Feb. 26.
BIG KAT RANGE
Senior
Katie Ferrell has caught fire from beyond the arc as of late.
After going 2 of 18 (.111) to start the year from deep, Ferrell has gone 17 of 32 (.531) from beyond the arc during the conference season, good for tops in the Sun Belt.
Ferrell has knocked down two or more 3-pointers in five conference contests, including three 3-pointers against Georgia Southern on Jan. 15. Her recent spurt has pushed her 3-point percentage near 40% as she is now 19 of 50 (.380) beyond the arc this season.
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS.... AND THE BALL
A key reason for the Lady Mavs' success this season has been protecting the basketball.
UT Arlington leads the SBC and is 20th in the country in total turnovers with only 348 this season (13.9 per game). They have only turned it over 20 or more times once this season and have only gone over 15 turnovers as a team nine times.
UTA is first in the Sun Belt in assist-turnover ratio at 1.12 this season, good for 34th in the nation. In their 26 games played this season, UTA is 17-2 when they have a plus assists-turnover ratio and 13-2 overall when they have at least 15 assists or more as a team.
The Lady Mavs are 2-5 this season when they have a negative assist-turnover ratio, including three losses by 10 points or more. The Lady Mavs have 10 or more assists as a team in 24 of 26 games this season, including 26 against App State on Feb. 6, the fourth-most in a single game.
Two point guards have been a key factor in protecting the basketball as
Terryn Milton and
Katie Ferrell are first and second in the SBC in assist-to-turnover ratio and both in the Top 25 nationally.
Milton sits at 15th in the country with a 2.56 assist-turnover ratio, while Ferrell is 24th in the nation at 2.34. In conference play, Milton has bolstered an incredible 2.9 assist-turnover ratio in conference play, easily the best in the Sun Belt.
SHARING THE ROCK
Two all-time great guards continue to make their mark in the history book as
Katie Ferrell and
Terryn Milton continue to climb up the all-time assist ranks.
With an assist in the third quarter against Rice on Dec. 4, 2021, Ferrell tied Terra Wallace for second all-time in career assists with 409. Ferrell moved into sole possession of second place early in the first quarter against Oklahoma State on Dec. 17, 2021.
Against #13/17 South Florida on Dec. 2, 2021, Ferrell became the third Lady Mav in school history to eclipse 400 career assists.
Ferrell will have an outside chance to become the all-time leader in assists as she is 73 behind Krystal Buchanan and 12 away from hitting 500 career assists.
Meanwhile, with her third assist against Louisiana on Mar. 6, 2022,
Terryn Milton became the fourth player in school history and the second player this season to surpass 400 career assists, joining teammate
Katie Ferrell. Milton moved into fourth all-time in career assist against App State on Feb. 6, 2022.
Milton has jumped four spots in two months, moving from eighth all the way to fourth in the months of January and February.
Milton is seven assists away from passing Terra Wallace and moving to third all-time.
She had a pair of double-digit assist performances, going for 10 against App State before following that with 11 against Arkansas State, earning a double-double in both contests.
Milton, along with Ferrell, has become the second duo in school history from the same recruiting class to each have 300 or more assists in a career. Tamara Simmons and Shalyn Martin accomplished this feat in 2011. They then became the only duo to have 400 or more assists from the same recruiting class.
Milton and Ferrell passed Simmons and Martin for the most assists by a duo in school history against Houston on Nov. 17 at 676. They became the first duo to surpass 700 combined assists in the win over UNLV on Nov. 27.
Ferrell is currently third in the SBC in assists with 4.5 per game, while Milton is fifth in the Sun Belt in assists per game with 4.2.
| Player |
Year |
Assists |
| 1. Krystal Buchanan |
2001-05 |
561 |
| 2. Katie Ferrell |
2018-pres. |
488 |
| 3. Terra Wallace |
2003-07 |
409 |
| 4. Terryn Milton |
2018-pres. |
402 |
| 5. Paige Smithers-Wojciakl |
1982-86 |
366 |
| 6. Tamara Simmons |
2007-11 |
341 |
| 7. Shalyn Martin |
2007-11 |
334 |
| 8. Gale Haynes |
1993-97 |
332 |
| 9. Cierra Johnson |
2014-19 |
315 |
| 10. Carolyn Smith |
1977-81 |
282 |
MS. DO-IT-ALL
Katie Ferrell continues to flash her all-time brilliance as one of the best all-around players in UTA Lady Mavs history.
After surpassing 500 points in her career recently, Ferrell is the only player in UTA history to have 500+ points (526), 500+ rebounds (681), 400+ assists (488), 200+ steals (209), and 80+ blocks (80).
She is in the Top 10 in the school record book for career numbers in every category except points.
AMONG THE ELITE
UTA has been one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference year in and year out since joining the league in 2013-14. The Lady Mavs have been .500 or better every year except their very first season and have currently won 10 or more conference games in eight straight seasons, a conference-leading mark they hold with Troy.
1. Little Rock: 122
2. Troy: 117
3. UTA: 103
4. Louisiana: 89
5. Arkansas State: 87
6. Texas State: 86
7. South Alabama: 63
App State: 63
9. Georgia State: 61
10. Coastal Carolina: 46
11. Georgia Southern: 39
12. ULM: 31
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).
