by Game Recap: Women’s Basketball |Michael Eldridge
DALLAS – It was a record-breaking performance for UT Arlington to close out nonconference with a fourth-quarter surge to send the Lady Mavericks by SMU, 66-41, on Saturday at Moody Coliseum.
The Lady Mavs picked up their eighth win of nonconference play, the most in program history, and ended the 2018 portion of the schedule with an 8-3 record heading into the Sun Belt opener next week at Georgia State. UTA, picking up its third consecutive win over its crosstown rival, took a three-point lead into the final 10 minutes, but exploded for a 34-12 advantage in the final stanza – the 34 points in the fourth were the most for UTA in a quarter in program history. SMU fell to 6-7 in the loss.
“It was impressive to see the mental toughness shown and the perseverance to stay true to our system and game plan when shots weren’t falling,” UTA coach Krista Gerlich said. “We finally started getting points for the turnovers we were creating and that led us into a better rhythm for shooting the basketball. I think this just showed how explosive our kids can be offensively when they keep playing hard.”
UTA struggled to find its stride in the first half, with the defense keeping things at just a one-point deficit at halftime. The Lady Mavs shot 23.3 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes before taking the lid off the basket in the fourth quarter. UTA upped its final field-goal tally to 35.2 percent, knocking down an impressive 76.9 percent in the fourth, including hitting on four 3-point attempts.
Lauren Billie (Creek/Seminole) shined on both sides of the ball as she was one of three to finish in double figures. Billie connected for 11 points, but grabbed away six steals in helping SMU turn the ball over 29 times, a season high for an opponent this season. The six steals tied for ninth in program history, joining teammate Cierra Johnson who has achieved the feat on five occasions. Johnson had 14 points, 11 coming from the free-throw line, while she gabbed five rebounds and got two steals. Johnson’s 14 points pushed her total to 1,049 in her career, surpassing both Allison Gray and Maryann Abanobi for 16th in program history.
It was Terryn Milton that saw her late 3-pointer steal away the team-high with 16 points, seven coming at the line. Katie Ferrell nearly picked up the team’s first double-double of the year as she had 10 rebounds with nine assists.
While the home court has been kind to the Lady Mavs in the last three seasons, UTA finished with a 5-1 record away from home in nonconference with wins at San Francisco, Incarnate Word, Oral Roberts, Houston and the finale at SMU. The win over the Mustangs pushed the all-time series record to 23-16 in favor of UTA.
“I’ve learned that this team is made up of a bunch of fighters,” Gerlich said of her nonconference summary of what she’s seen. “They play extremely hard and they compete. The internal competition that is going on in our practices keeps making our team better on game nights. Our chemistry is outstanding and we have some very unselfish players. We are having a lot of fun, which is how the game is supposed to be played.”
The Lady Mavs travel to Georgia State on Jan. 3 before closing out the three-game trek away from home at Georgia Southern on Jan. 5.
