JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The UT Arlington women's basketball team (3-8, 0-2 WAC) picked up their second straight victory, downing Jacksonville State (4-7, 0-0 CUSA) by a final score of 69-64 inside the Pete Mathews Coliseum on Tuesday night.
 
The three-headed monster of Adela Valkova, Avery Brittingham and Gia Adams spurred the Lady Mavs to the victory by accounting for 58 of UTA's 69 points.
 
It was a career night for Valkova, whom had a game-best 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting. The 21 points is a new career-high, besting the 16-point outing she had at Sam Houston this past Saturday. She also pulled down a career-high seven rebounds and tied her career high in assists with three. She also had one block in 36 minutes of action.
 
Brittingham scored 19, her best offensive outing in a Lady Mav uniform. She corralled eight rebounds while dishing out three assists. She finished her night with one block and one steal in 35 minutes on the floor.
 
Adams finished with 18 points on 6-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from deep and 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. She tied her career high of seven assists while also snagging four rebounds. She also had two steals in 38 minutes.
 
The Lady Mavs came out on fire, scoring the first eight points of the contest before the Gamecocks scored a basket. UTA would go up by as many as 15 points when we came to our first media timeout with the Lady Mavs up 19-4. Jacksonville State managed to end the quarter down 23-14. 
 
The Gamecocks managed to cut the Lady Mavs lead down to one with 3:43 left in the half, but that would be the closest they would get in the quarter. Brittingham hit a corner three off an inbound pass to beat the buzzer and send us into the locker room with UTA up seven, 35-28. The Lady Mavs never trailed at any point during the first half.
 
Jacksonville State managed to tie the game late in the third quarter at 49 points apiece. To start the fourth quarter, the Gamecocks hit a three to take their first lead of the game. The Lady Mavs would trail for the next 3 minutes and 29 seconds and found themselves down by as many as five. 
 
The Lady Mavs would tie the game at the 6:20 mark of the quarter thanks to a Taliyah Clark jumper. A steal by Nya Threatt turned into an Adams and-one that gave UTA the lead for good. 
 
Stifling defense from the Lady Mavs secured the win down the stretch, holding the Gamecocks scoreless in the final 2:07 of the game.
 
As a team, the Lady Mavs had 46 points in the paint while shooting an astounding 48.3-percent from the floor for the game. The 34 rebounds are the second most secured this season. UTA forced the Gamecocks into 15 turnovers and turned that into 17 points.
 
With the win, Head Coach Shereka Wright picked up her 50th career victory.
 
NEXT UP
The Lady Mavs return home in 11 days when they take on New Mexico State in their final non-conference matchup of the year on Saturday, December 30, at the College Park Center. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. This is the final game of the inaugural CUSA-WAC Challenge. 
   
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