UTA Women Win In Mobile
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MOBILE, Alabama – A dominating effort at both ends of the court lifted UT Arlington to an impressive 63-46 victory Saturday afternoon over South Alabama at Mitchell Center.
The Lady Mavericks improved to 13-10 overall and evened their Sun Belt Conference record at 7-7 with their third win the last four games. UTA also swept the season series over the Jaguars (4-20, 1-14) and improved to 3-2 all-time.
The victory proved a nice rebound from 65-58 overtime loss at Texas State. The Lady Mavericks lost a nine-point lead in the last two minutes of regulation.
“The girls really responded from Thursday night,” UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich said. “I think they were really upset with themselves and how they didn’t finish that game. We had a great practice yesterday after a day of travel and great shootaround early this morning.
“I just thought they came out and executed what we asked them to do. It wasn’t pretty. There are still some things that we really didn’t do very well, but at the same time South Alabama did a nice job.”
Cierra Johnson led UT Arlington with 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Rebekah Van Dijk also scored 12 and grabbed six boards. Six additional Lady Mavs scored at least six points.
“You’ve got to love that those kids are freshmen,” Gerlich said. “They’ve been really consistent. Our upperclassmen do a nice job of helping them and being unselfish, as well. This team right now just
wants to win and I’m excited about the future for sure.”
The Lady Mavs didn’t waste any time taking control of the game by jumping out to a 5-0 lead. UTA’s full-court press gave the Jaguars, and the lead continued to grow throughout the first half.
UT Arlington forced 18 turnovers and finished with 10 steaks, including three from Amara Wainwright. The Jaguars shot 34.1 percent for the game.
“Last time we played them we forced a lot of turnovers and it helped our offense score,” Gerlich said. “I thought our kids recognized that from our scouting report and really bought into just getting deflections.”
Van Dijk’s layup put the Lady Mavericks up double digits (19-8) for the first time with less than eight minutes left in the half. Wainwright steal and three-point play made it 26-10 and Krioni Bruce’s 3-pointer allowed UTA to going into the half up 32-14.
Bruce paced the team with seven points at the break, while Van Dijk and Wainwright each scored six. Johnson had five rebounds and two assists.
The advantage reached 20 (36-16) on Johnson’s steal and layup early in the second half. South Alabama wouldn’t get any closer than 14 the rest of the way.
UTA returns to College Park Center for Thursday’s Sun Belt matchup against Appalachian State.
