LEWISVILLE, Texas – Head Coach Shereka Wright and junior Starr Jacobs headlined four total Lady Mavs honored by Dave Campell's Texas Basketball postseason awards on Friday afternoon.

In a year that saw a multitude of conference champions in the state of Texas as well as five schools in the NCAA Tournament from the Lone Star State, Wright was named Texas Coach of the Year while Jacobs took home Texas Junior Player of the Year as well as All-Texas First Team honors.

Senior Terryn Milton was named to All-Texas Third Team, while senior Katie Ferrell earned a spot on the All-Texas Honorable Mention Team.

Wright was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Mavs to a 20-8 season, including their first conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. Wright became the second coach to earn SBC Coach of the Year as Krista Gerlich earned that distinction during the 2018-19 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 led UTA to their first-ever win over a ranked opponent beating then-No. 13/17 South Florida, 61-56, on Dec. 2, 2021. She was also named the HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Week after a pair of come-from-behind wins over Houston and North Texas.

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. Including postseason play, Jacobs is the first player in Lady Mavs history to finish the regular season averaging 20 points or more as she finished with 21.0 points per game, good for 13th in the nation. She averaged 20.9 points per game in conference play and shot .525 from the field while pulling down 6.3 boards.

Jacobs was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and followed that up with SBC Tournament MVP after averaging 28.0 points per game and 10 boards, scoring 28 points in all three contests. She was also a four-time SBC Player of the Week selection.

Jacobs has scored 10 or more points in all 28 contests this season and has scored 20 or more points in 16 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 20 of 28 games.

A second team All-SBC selection as well as a spot on the SBC All-Tournament Team, Milton put together a career year in her final season.

Milton averaged 12.0 points per game in the regular season 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 was 19th in the country with an outstanding assist-turnover ratio of 2.40. The senior from Owasso, Oklahoma moved into third all-time in career assists this season with 412. 

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 against Arkansas State on Feb. 26.

Ferrell has been one of the best all-around players in the Sun Belt Conference all season long as she finished with 5.3 points per game, 5.6 boards, 4.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.8 blocks. Ferrell is the only player in UTA history to have 500+ points (541), 500+ rebounds (694), 400+ assists (491), 200+ steals (213), and 80+ blocks (82). She is in the Top 10 in the school record book for career numbers in every category except points. 

But when it came to scoring, Ferrell was terrific this season in contributing. After going 2 of 18 (.111) to start the year from beyond the 3-point line, Ferrell went 17 of 32 (.531) from beyond the arc during the conference season, good for tops in the Sun Belt. 

She is second all-time in career assists with 491 adn 25th in the nation in assist turnover ratio at 2.30.

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