Samantha Morrow Position: Head Coach Experience: 3rd Year Education: B.S., Texas Wesleyan University, 1981 M.Ed, Tarleton State University, 1987

Head women's basketball coach Samantha Morrow enters her third season at the helm of the Mavericks and is coming off a 22-11 overall record, a Southland Conference title and the schools second appearance in the WNIT since the 1998-99 season.

Morrow guided all five starters to All-SLC honors and all five finished the season averaging in double figures. The Mavericks were led by seniors Candice Champion and Erin Dixon who were at the top of the SLC in scoring and rebounding.

Champion led the conference with her 19.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game and was named to the All-SLC First Team. Champion's other accomplishments include three separate all-tournament team honors, 16 double-doubles and career-highs of 34 points against A&M-Corpus Christi and 22 rebounds at Central Arkansas.

The standout senior was also the 14th player in UTA women's basketball history to record over 1,000 career points. Champion finished her Maverick career with 1,100 points which ranks ninth in UTA history and her 604 points in her final season ranks first in single-season history. Champion was also honored by the Southland Conference with three SLC Player of the Week selections.

Fellow senior-Dixon finished her senior season averaging 11.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. She ranked second in conference in rebounding behind Champion and was named to the All-SLC Second Team. She recorded a career-high 23 points against Midwestern State and followed that performance with a career-high 19 rebounds against Morehead State.

Other Mavericks earning All-SLC honors where third team recipients-Shalyn Martin and Tamara Simmons and Meghan Nelson selected to the honorable mention team.

The Mavs fell short of their third NCAA Tournament berth after falling 74-63 to UTSA in the SLC Tournament championship game.

UTA moved into the postseason as they made an appearance in the Women's National Invitational Tournament for the second time in school history. Despite a 22-point, 16-rebound performance by senior Candice Champion and the sharp shooting of sophomore Tamara Simmons, the Mavericks suffered a hard-fought 82-72 setback at Oklahoma State in the first round of the tournament.

In the conference, the Mavericks finished first in scoring offense, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, field-goal percent defense, rebounding offense, rebounding margin, and defensive rebounds.

The Mavs finished the 2008-09 season with the programs third most wins in program history.

In her first season Morrow led the Lady Mavericks to an impressive 19-10 overall record and a 13-3 mark in the SLC. The Lady Mavericks finished with a 9-2 record at Texas Hall and captured five of their last six games of the season.

The Lady Mavericks finished first in six categories in the Southland Conference, including field goal percentage, field goal defense, three-point field goal percentage defense, rebounding margin, assists and defensive rebounds.

Under the guidance of Morrow, seniors Maryann Abanobi averaged a team-high 12.7 points per game en route to earning All-Southland Conference Second Team accolades while Tiffeny Riles led the Lady Mavericks in rebounding with 7.6 rebounds per game and was named to the All-Southland Conference Second Team.

Morrow led the Lady Mavericks to their 19th Southland Conference appearance where they defeated McNeese State but fell in the second round to UTSA.

Morrow began her coaching career with UTA on May 17, 2008, as she was selected as the eighth head women's basketball coach in school history.

Morrow comes to UT Arlington after winning four consecutive Class 5A state championships at Mansfield High School from 1999 to 2002. She was named the 2002 National Federation of High Schools Coaches Association's National Coach of the Year and completed her prep career with 413 wins in 14 seasons.

Morrow's high school background does not scare UT Arlington Athletics Director Pete Carlon, who ventured into the prep ranks to hire previous coach Donna Capps who compiled two NCAA Tournament appearances and the program's first two Southland Conference titles in the past three seasons.

Morrow earned a scholarship to Ranger Junior College and later to Texas Wesleyan University where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1981. She completed her master's degree at Tarleton State University in 1987 while coaching at Stephenville High School.

She won the Class B state girls golf championship as a sophomore in 1975, and was a participant in the 2002 Olympic torch relay for the Salt Lake City Games. A member of the region-qualifying relay team in track and field, she continues to be an avid runner.

Morrow's decision to leave an assistant athletic director position within the Mansfield ISD was due in part because "UT Arlington is a gold mine (for women's basketball).

"I believe we have an excellent opportunity to win a game, then two, then three," Morrow said of the team's capability at the NCAA Tournament. "I want to go beyond being Southland Conference champions."