ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington women's basketball team welcomes Missouri State to the College Park Center for UTA's home opener on Friday, Nov. 7, for a 6:30 p.m. CT tipoff.
 
This is the first of three straight home games for the Lady Mavs. It's Battle of the Greeks night and Mellow Mushroom is giving away pizza to the first 300 students.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This will be the second all-time meeting between the two programs, with the first coming all the way back on November 27, 1987 in which the Lady Bears defeated the Lady Mavs 70-60 in Springfield, Mo. This will be the first trip to Arlington for Missouri State. 
 
SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
The Lady Bears are coming off a season opening 70-66 win over Saint Louis and defeated Northeastern State, 75-57, in a friendly exhibition game. Junior Kaemyn Bekemeier opened up the season with a career-high 23 points to pace the Lady Bears in the win over Saint Louis. Freshman Maiesha Washington posted 13 points and eight rebounds in her debut against Saint Louis. The Lady Bears went 26-9 overall last season, claiming a share of the regular season MVC title and made their tenth straight postseason appearance where they advanced to the second round of the WBIT.
 
STILL GETTING TO THE LINE
Through one game of the 2025-26 season, the Lady Mavs are still one of the best in the conference at getting to the free throw line, getting to the charity stripe 26 times against Houston, second best in the WAC. They shot 76.9-percent from the line, the third best mark in the WAC. Their 20 made free throws is the second best mark in the league and 42nd in the nation.
 
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF
True freshman Kira Reynolds made a splash in her collegiate debut, garnering her first career double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds. This is the best start to a career in program history in recent memory.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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).