Monday, March 10, 2008

Women’s basketball: UT Arlington 88, Texas State 7

By Pegasus News wire

The UT Arlington women's basketball team won its final game of the regular season 88-71 over Texas State on Saturday at Texas Hall. Seniors Maryann Abanobi and Tiffeny Riles combined for 31 points as they played in their final game in front of a home crowd.

With UTSA's loss at SFA tonight, the Mavericks (18-9, 13-3 SLC) have claimed the No. 2 seed at the Southland Conference Tournament, which begins in Katy on Wednesday. UTA will face-off with McNeese State the No. 7 seed at noon in the first game of the tournament.

Five Mavericks scored in double-digits led by freshman Shalyn Martin, who matched her season-high with 19 points and recorded her first career double-double by matching her season-high 10 rebounds. Riles chipped in with a season-high 17 points going 6-for-9 from the floor.

Joyce Ekworomadu led the Bobcats (20-9, 14-2 SLC) with 18 points, while Marie Moser and Victoria Davis both had 11 points for the night.

UTA led from the beginning, but Texas State kept it close in the opening five minutes of the game. At the 15:17 mark in the first half Riles hit a jumper, which sparked an 11-2 run by the Mavericks to lead by ten at 21-11.

The Bobcats battled back to within three, but back-to-back steals and baskets from Tamara Simmons and Meghan Nelson and a lay-up from Riles gave UTA back a nine-point advantage.

In the final five minutes of the first half the Mavs clamped down on defense and outscored the Bobcats 12-to-5 to lead 45-30 at the midway point.

An 8-2 Bobcat run started the second half as Texas State got within single digits at 47-38, but UTA again pushed their lead back up to 51-38 with 15:32 left in the game.

Martin hit a three at the 8:55 mark to extend the Mavs lead to 20 at 70-50. Over the next six minutes as the Bobcats struggled at the free-throw line, UTA built its lead to 24 (82-58) with junior Candice Champion scoring eight of the 12 points in the run.

Texas State got a late push off consecutive steals by Brooke DeGrate that helped pull the Bobcats to within 84-66 with 2:27 remaining, but UTA's lead proved too much to overcome.

Source: UTA

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