HOUSTON, Texas – UT Arlington women's basketball is set to open the 2025-26 season on Tuesday night on the road at the University of Houston inside the Fertitta Center at 6:30 p.m. CT.
 
This is the 54th season of Lady Mavs basketball and it is shaping up to be a promising one as we head into year six of the Shereka Wright era.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 15th all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Lady Mavs trailing in the all-time series, 4-10. UTA is currently on a four game winning streak in the series, picking up a 61-57 win last season inside the CPC. This will be the third matchup in Houston in their last five games, with UTA picking up both wins, one coming in overtime. The Lady Mavs are 2-5 all-time when visiting Houston. UTA averages 62 points a game in the series, putting up 872 total points.
 
SCOUTING HOUSTON
The Cougars head into the 2025-26 season with a new head coach in Matthew Mitchell and three returners from a season ago in Kierra Merchant, Summer Bostock and Kateri Poole. Houston looks to have a bounce back season after going 5-25 last season, ending the year on a 13-game losing streak. The Cougars are longer than they were a season ago, boasting six players on the current roster that are six foot or over. New head coach Matthew Mitchell is no stranger to turning around programs as he's done in previous stops at Kentucky and Morehead State. 
 
HEY, I KNOW YOU
The Lady Mavs return six total players from last season's roster in guard's Nya Threatt, Alexsyah Goudeau, Kali Haizlip, Kendal Robinson and forwards Miraya Perkins and Laura Bello. Threatt is entering her fourth season in Arlington and is the most experienced player in Coach Wright's system with 87 appearances, 59 of those coming via starts. The floor general is coming off a career year in which she improved her point totals per game (6.6) as well as her shooting percentage from the floor (.417).
 
Goudeau along with Threatt, returns for her fourth season for the blue and orange. She has appeared in 77 games during her tenure in Arlington and has put up 200 total points while grabbing 127 rebounds in those three seasons. Goudeau was fifth on the team in steals a season ago, finishing the year with 28 to go along with eight blocks.
 
The lone all-conference selection returning for the Lady Mavs from a season ago, Robinson looks to build upon her All-WAC Freshman Team honor. In the WAC Tournament, she had her best scoring output of the season in the semifinals against Tarleton State, finishing with 11 points and had the dagger three pointer that gave the Lady Mavs the lead which they never relinquished in the fourth.
 
Junior forward Perkins looks to play an increased role in the upcoming season, having come off the bench the majority of the past two seasons. She has appeared in 59 games during her two seasons in Arlington. For her career, Perkins is shooting nearly 50-percent from the floor, going an impressive .452 from the field through two seasons.
 
Senior guard Haizlip enters her third season in Arlington with 59 appearances under her belt. In her first two seasons in the blue and orange, she has played valuable minutes off the bench for the Lady Mavs, averaging 2.9 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per game.
 
Bello enters her second year at UTA and looks to play an impact role on the defensive side of the ball for the Lady Mavs after missing all of last season due to injury. Prior to her time in Arlington, Bello was an All-Big Sky performer at Idaho State.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
With the six familiar faces, the Lady Mavs added five players in the transfer portal, and one true freshman. Of the five transfers, two come from the high-major ranks, in guard Amiyah Reynolds (Purdue) and forward Mila Reynolds (Purdue). UTA also added guard Jadyn Atchison from Old Dominion, guard Erin Sellers from Menlo College and center Jeanne Rodriguez from Salt Lake Community College.
 
Amiyah Reynolds comes to UTA from Purdue, where she appeared in 23 games last season, starting in eight. She played 19 minutes and recorded two points, seven rebounds and a block when the Lady Mavs visited West Lafayette.
 
Mila Reynolds joins the Lady Mavs after stops at Maryland and Purdue and is returning from an injury that sidelined her all of last season. She has appeared in 49 games across both stops, and appeared in an Elite Eight back during the 2022-23 season while at Maryland.
 
Atchison, the Cedar Hill, Texas native, returns to her home state after stops at Colorado and Old Dominion. While at Colorado during the 2023-24 season, she recorded six points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in 11 minutes of action when the Lady Mavs visited Boulder.
 
After a phenomenal junior college career at Salt Lake Community College, Rodriguez joins the Lady Mavs looking to replicate her two-year stint in Utah. Last season, she was a First Team All-Scenic West selection after averaging 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 19.8 minutes per game for the Bruins.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Sellers comes to UTA from Menlo College. The Oakland, California native averaged 8.2 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 steals in 14.1 minutes per contest last season for the Oaks.
 
The lone true freshman is the highly touted forward, Kira Reynolds, from South Bend Washington High School. An ESPN top-100 recruit comes to UTA as the highest rated recruit in program history after an outstanding prep career. She is the first student-athlete, male or female, to record a quintuple-double in the state of Indiana when she finished with 14 points, 18 rebounds, 12 assists, 11 steals and 10 blocks in a contest against New Prairie. Reynolds finished her high school career with the most blocks in the state of Indiana's history. She joins her sisters, Mila and Amiyah, at UTA.
 
HISTORY MAKERS
The Lady Mavs are coming off their best-ever regular season and tournament finish during their WAC tenure, entering the tourney as the third overall seed with a 10-6 regular season WAC record, before falling in the WAC Championship game to the top-seeded Grand Canyon Lopes.
 
UTA competed in the WNIT for the first time since 2019 and fifth time in program history. The Lady Mavs made history by picking up their second ever postseason victory when they defeated Incarnate Word before eventually falling to North Texas.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Lady Mavs are an impressive 43-18 at home in Shereka Wright's tenure at the College Park Center, where they will play three of their first four games this season and 13 overall. Coach Wright has never had a losing record at home and went an astounding 12-1 last season which is the best winning percentage (.923) for the Lady Mavs at home since moving into the CPC back in 2012.
 
The Lady Mavs claimed their 100th victory inside the friendly confines of the CPC last season on Jan. 20, 2024 with a victory over Abilene Christian. UTA sports a 115-69 overall record inside the CPC heading into the 2025-26 season. The Lady Mavs seem to be at their best when playing in front of the home fans.
 
LONG AND ATHLETIC
The Lady Mavs will look different on the court, certainly in terms of length, as this may be the tallest the Lady Mavs have been during Coach Wright's tenure with six players, half the roster, registering at 6 foot or taller.
 
EXPERIENCED ROSTER
The Lady Mavs return six players from last season's roster, with five of them combining for 313 appearances and 87 starts during their time in Arlington. You can mix this in with the incoming players who have 201 appearances and 22 starts across all levels of collegiate basketball.
 
Laura Bello sat out all last season with an injury and has yet to appear in a game for UTA. She has appeared in 87 games with 52 starts between her stops at Idaho State and Newman.
 
Kira Reynolds is the lone student-athlete who has no collegiate experience heading into the season.
 
IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
Basketball is a family affair for several people, and that's no different for some Lady Mavs.UTA boasts a trio of sisters in Mile, Amiyah and Kira Reynolds. Not only do the Lady Mavs have the sisters, their father Steven Reynolds, Jr. is on staff as an assistant coach. He was also their coach in high school. Junior Miraya Perkins is the daughter of former North Carolina Tar Heel, Olympian and 17 year NBA veteran, Sam Perkins.
 
NEW FACES
There are three new faces on the Lady Mavs coaching roster this season in Ethan McIlhargey, Steven Reynolds, Jr. and Christian Chapman.
 
THE PRICE IS WRIGHT
Head coach Shereka Wright overtook Samantha Morrow (2007-13) for the fifth most wins in school history with 75 after a win Southern Utah on Jan. 30, 2025. After the Lady Mavs WNIT win over Incarnate Word, Wright sits at 82 wins and trails Krista Gerlich (121), Donna Capps (119), Connie Kelch (117) and Mike Dean (115). Wright's .569 winning percentage is the third best in program history.
 
UT ARLINGTON BY THE NUMBERS
Milestone Wins
100th win - 65-50 vs Texas Woman's on Nov. 13, 1979
200th win - 64-51 vs Texas Wesleyan on Feb. 2, 1987 (in Fort Worth, Texas)
300th win - 73-55 vs Nicholls State on Feb. 15, 1996
400th win - 67-63 at Louisiana Monroe on Feb. 1, 2003
500th win - 54-41 vs Texas A&M - Corpus Christi on Jan. 26, 2008
600th win - 65-58 vs Appalachian State on Feb. 13, 2016
700th win - 60-40 at Arkansas State on Feb. 26, 2021
750th win - 67-53 vs Utah Valley on Mar. 2, 2024
 
By The Decade
1972-82: 147-135 (.521)
1982-92: 109-165 (.398)
1992-02: 135-141 (.489)
2002-12: 169-132 (.562)
2012-22: 161-131 (.551)
2022-present: 49-47 (.510)
Overall: 770-751 (.506)
 
Season tickets are still on sale, starting at just $50 for all 13 home games at the state-of-the-art College Park Center.
 
Single game tickets are also available now and you can secure those along with season tickets at UTATickets.com.
 
Courtside seating is also available through the Maverick Club, featuring one row along each baseline (excluding team benches). For more information, contact Emma Hudspeth, Director of the Maverick Club, at emma.hudspeth@uta.edu or call 817-272-3856.
   
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 X (formally known as Twitter) (@UTAMavsWBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsWBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsWBB).