UTA Women Clinch Sun Belt Tourney Berth

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STATESBORO, Georgia – UT Arlington clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the first time after Thursday’s dominating 66-41 win over Georgia Southern.

The Lady Mavericks also secured the program’s first winning season since 2008-09 after improving to 16-12 overall and 10-9 in league play. UT Arlington is guaranteed a spot in next week’s Sun Belt Championship after missing out last year in UTA’s first season in the conference.

“It is exciting and it is exciting for those girls, they have really earned it,” UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich said. “They are playing really well right now and they have a lot of confidence. I am glad they got to do it themselves and not have to rely on someone else getting beat or winning in order to clinch.”

Freshman Rebekah Van Dijk earned her 15th double-double of the season with a game-high 16 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman Cierra Johnson scored 15 points and picked up six steals to move her into a tie for seventh for steals in a season in UTA single-season history.

“I think we were playing great,” Van Dijk. “We needed another win to get into the

tournament so we just said that we needed to go out and do it and have fun. It is exciting for us to make the tournament.”

The Lady Mavs seized control right from the opening tip and raced out to commanding lead at Hanner Fieldhouse. UTA pummeled the Eagles (4-24, 1-18) inside in opening up leads of 10 less than eight minutes into the game, 16 after less than 13 minutes and 20 going into halftime.

“We talked about it all week,” Gerlich said. “We needed to come out from the tip and be sure we didn’t let them in the ball game early to give them confidence. Our kids came out with great energy.”

UTA’s 32-12 advantage at the break featured 10 points from Van Dijk and seven from Williams. Van Dijk also had 13 boards at the half, securing her double-double.

The Lady Mavs scored 22 points in the paint in the first half and enjoyed an 11-1 edge in second-chance points. UT Arlington also outrebounded Georgia Southern 31-14.

The Eagles’ 12 points were the second lowest for an opponent this season in a first half this season, and the lowest in Sun Belt action. Georgia Southern made just 5 of 15 shots (20 percent) through the opening 20 minutes.

UTA swept the two-game season series with the Eagles. The Lady Mavericks conclude the regular season Saturday at Appalachian State.

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