STEPHENVILLE, Texas --- The UT Arlington women's basketball team (8-10, 2-4 WAC) delivered a record-tying offensive performance in the fourth quarter to produce a 76-70 road win over Tarleton (7-10, 1-5 WAC) inside the Wisdom Gym on Saturday.
 
The Lady Mavs shot 9-of-17 from the field and made 16-of-18 free throws in the quarter alone to produce a 34-24 advantage and finish off the come-from-behind victory. Those 34 points tied a UT Arlington program record for most in a quarter, matching the first quarter total against Appalachian State on Jan. 9, 2020 and the fourth quarter output against SMU on Dec. 29, 2018.
 
Playing an integral role in the team's performance was the duo of Shyia Smith (15) and Starr Jacobs (12), who combined for 27 points in the fourth quarter alone. In fact, they also scored 34 of UTA's 44 second-half points.
 
Smith totaled a season-high 20 points and five rebounds while tallying a career-best 10 free throws, which tied UTA's single-game season-high established earlier this year by Taleyah Jones against Texas A&M - Texarkana on Dec. 11. The overall scoring output was just one shy of matching her career high established on Jan. 1, 2021 against Little Rock.
 
Jacobs, who had 15 points and seven rebounds in the second half alone, finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists on 7-of-13 shooting. It was her fifth double-double of the season, pushing her career tally to nine. In six WAC games, the senior forward is averaging 19 points, nine rebounds, 2.7 steals and 2.5 assists per game with three double-doubles.
 

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— UTA Lady Mavs (@UTAMavsWBB) January 14, 2023

 
Prior to UT Arlington receiving big second half performances from Smith and Jacobs, Kamaria Gipson was busy carrying the team in the first half en route to finishing with a career-best 14 points, three rebounds and an assist on 7-of-9 shooting over 18 minutes. All of her production came in the opening 20 minutes before being limited to three minutes due to foul trouble in the second half, but she still finished with two-thirds of the team's bench points against the Texans.
 
Kayla White was the fourth and final Lady Mav in double-figures as she tallied 10 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal. It was her seventh-consecutive game with at least 10 points, as well as her 11th over the past 12 outings.
 
Jireh Washington was also a key contributor with six points, seven rebounds, a team-high four assists and two steals. She finished just one shy of matching her season high in rebounds, which she established against Tarleton on Dec. 31, thus giving her a 7.5 per game average against the Texans this season.
 
After nearly doubling up Tarleton in the opening quarter (17-9), the Lady Mavs were outscored 19-15 in the second quarter, which shrunk their lead to just four at the half. Gipson tallied nearly half of the team's points (14 of 32) while making seven of the team's 13 field goals in the opening 20 minutes.
 
In the second half, things really got fun.

Jacobs scored on a layup to give the Lady Mavs a 38-32 lead with 6:37 left in the third quarter, but Tarleton closed on a 14-4 run and held UT Arlington to 10 points in the frame to take a 46-42 lead into the fourth, highlighted by a 3-pointer in the closing seconds from Mason Jones.
 
Tarleton continued to advance, pushing its lead to six on a pair of occasions early the fourth quarter, the second of which came with 8:31 left. From there, however, Smith started to make her name known to Stephenville natives in the crowd as the senior forward made a layup and then converted an old-fashioned, three-point play to pull her team within three.
 
After the teams exchanged two-point possessions, Smith assisted on a jumper from Jacobs to pull the Lady Mavs within one before tallying her second three-point play to give UT Arlington a 54-52 lead with 6:32 left. Jacobs then scored five straight over the next two and a half minutes to push the lead to six.
 
Tarleton didn't back down, however, and made four straight free throws before Mayra Caicedo swiped a Lady Mav pass and finished off a fast break layup to knot the game at 63 apiece with 2:36 left.
 
On the game's next possession, America's fifth most common surname - Jones - played a key role in the game as Tarleton's Jones grabbed another steal and led the break before dishing to Teresa Da Silva for what appeared to be a go-ahead layup, but the speedy guard missed it, and UTA's Jones grabbed the rebound before being fouled. She followed with 1-of-2 at the foul line to complete a three-point swing.
 
Just over a minute later, with the game tied once again, the No. 1 most popular surname came to the forefront as Smith finished off a tough bucket in the paint and completed her third three-point play of the quarter for a 69-66 lead. On the other end, Tarleton missed a 3-pointer but grabbed the offensive rebound. No worry, however, as Jacobs swiped the ball and made 1-of-2 at the line after getting fouled to push the margin to four. After each team exchanged free throws, Smith sealed the game with four straight at the line.
 
The Lady Mavs, who snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory, completed a regular season sweep of Tarleton with the win. They'll be back in action Thursday at UTRGV at 6:30 p.m. before concluding the three-game road stretch at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.
 
Notes

• With her first rebound of the game, Jacobs reached 300 in her UT Arlington career.
• Smith eclipsed 800 points in her NCAA career with her eighth point of the game.
• White needs five more field goals for 500 in her NCAA career.
• The NCAA switched to the quarter format prior to the 2015-16 season.

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