Feb. 5, 2010
Arlington, Texas -
Northwestern State Game Notes 
Game 21
UT Arlington at Northwestern State
Saturday, February 6, 2010 -- 2 p.m.
Prather Coliseum -- Natchitoches, La.
UTA-NORTHWESTERN STATE SERIES
The Lady Demons own a 34-16 advantage over the Mavericks... UT Arlington has won the last eight meetings over Northwestern State... the last meeting was February 7, 2009 where the Mavs recorded a 74-68 win at Texas Hall.
LAST GAME - UT ARLINGTON 66, A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI 72
UT Arlington fell to 3-4 in conference action after a 66-72 loss to A&M-Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas... Tamara Simmons led UTA with a game high 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field, including 3-of-8 from the three-point range and 2-of-2 from the line... the Mavericks were out-rebounded by the Islanders by a 53-31 margin... UTA finished the game shooting 45 percent from the floor and limited their turnovers to 12.
AT THIS POINT
With nine games remaining in the regular season and coming off a heartbreaking loss to A&M-Corpus Christi Wednesday night, the Mavericks look to finish conference on a high note... UTA travels to Natchitoches, La. for a meeting with East Division opponent-Northwestern State Saturday at 2 p.m... Meghan Nelson continues to lead the Mavs offensively with 17 points per game but junior Tamara Simmons has made an impact as well, scoring 12.5 points per game... in conference, Nelson is ranked second in scoring behind Nicholls State's Ricshanda Bickham 21.5 points.
INJURY REPORT
Freshman Kiara Parker sat out Wednesday game due to a knee injury during a Monday afternoon workout... Parker has made 19 appearances and one start this season... she's averaging 2.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.
THE LADY DEMONS
Northwestern State improved to 12-8 overall, 5-2 in conference after a 65-52 win at McNeese State Wednesday night... NSU got 14 points from Brittiany Houston and 10 from Lyndzee Greene while Sherrion Thomas added a game-high 14 rebounds... On the offensive end, NSU shot just 29 percent from the floor after hitting 16 of 56 and was 5 of 13 from long range for 39 percent. But the Lady Demons connected on 28 of 34 from the free throw line, including 20 of 25 in the second half... The Cowgirls out-rebounded NSU by a 49-47 margin but NSU committed just 13 turnovers - three in the first half... Houston leads the Lady Demons with 12.9 points per game while Thomas tops with 7.5 per game in rebounding.
REBOUNDS HURT MAVS IN ROAD LOSS
The Mavericks have struggled all season on the defensive end and Wednesday night it couldn't be more obvious, as UT Arlington was out-rebounded by a 53-31 margin against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
In 20 games, the Mavs have been out hustled on the defensive end eight times and of those eight they have only won two games.
UTA is lead defensively by Shalyn Martin with 8.2 boards per game while Veronica Mergerson and Donna Dike follow with 6.3.
1,000 POINT WATCH
Meghan Nelson continues to pile on the points combining for 939 so far in four seasons... in 20 games Nelson has poured in 340 points and needs 61 points to become the 16th player in UTA Women's Basketball history to record 1,000 career points... With 9 games remaining in the regular season and Nelson steadily averaging 16.5 points per game and she is well on her way to reaching this milestone... Nelson leads the Mavericks offense having finished in double-figures in all of the Mavs games and has scored 15 or more points in 13 games.
NELSON RANKS SECOND IN SCORING
Meghan Nelson continues to be on top of her game leading the conference in scoring with 19.9 points per game... in conference alone, Nelson has recorded 139 points and has finished with 15 or more points in all but one game in league play... Nelson leads the Mavericks with 17.0 points per game.
MARTIN OWNS THE BOARDS
Junior Shalyn Martin has done her part for the Mavericks on the defensive end, leading the team with 8.6 boards per game... Martin has recorded 10 or more rebounds in nine games this season, including three consecutive double-double performances... Martin is a big part of why the Mavericks are leading the conference in rebounding margin and defensive rebounds as she has collected 50 of UTA's 250. Martin has recorded double-doubles against Rice, Prairie View A&M, Southeast Missouri, St. John's, UTSA, SFA, and Sam Houston State.
Meghan Nelson RECORDS CAREER-HIGH 33 POINTS IN SFA WIN
UT Arlington senior guard Meghan Nelson scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Mavs to their second conference win of the season in an 85-79 decision over the visiting Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks. A native of Cedar Hill, Texas, Nelson's 33 points are the most points scored in a conference game this season.
SIMMONS HITS A NEW CAREER HIGH
Junior Tamara Simmons recorded a career-high 27-points on Saturday (Jan. 23) in an overtime loss against Sam Houston State... Simmons went 9-of-24 from the field, including 4-of-9 from three-point range and 5-of-5 from the line... her previous career high was 24 points against Kansas State last season.
NELSON EARNS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM HONORS IN BACK TO BACK TOURNAMENTS
Meghan Nelson finished the week scoring in double-figures in all four games for the Mavs... led the Mavericks in scoring against Texas Tech and San Francisco at the Basketball Traveler's Classic in Lubbock, Texas... finished the tournament the with 43 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals... was selected to the four man all-tournament team... best performance of the weekend came against Texas Tech, collecting 16 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the field in 23 minutes of action... Nelson added another piece of hardware to her trophy case on Sunday, December 20 at the St. John's Holiday Invitational in Jamaica, NY... against St. John's, Nelson finished with a game high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-5 from the free throw line and added five rebounds and two steals... Nelson followed that performance with 12 points and four boards against UAB on Sunday.
NELSON LEADS THE WAY
Offensively the Mavericks are being led by senior Meghan Nelson... Nelson has scored in double-figures in all of the Mavericks 19 games and has scored 15 or more points in 15 games... leads the team with 17.0 points per game and is second in the Southland Conference in scoring.
MAVERICKS PICKED TO FINISH 2ND IN LEAGUE
The Mavericks received 53 points and three first-place votes in the coaches' poll. The Mavs tallied 55 points and five first-place votes in the SID poll. Overall UT Arlington was picked second behind Lamar, who finished third in the West Division last season. The Cardinals received 59 points and six first-place votes for the top spot. Last year's defending champion UTSA earned 50 points and two first-place votes while A&M-Corpus Christi collected 34 points and one first-place vote.
PINK ZONE
The UT Arlington women's basketball team will trade in their normal white and orange colors for pink uniforms on Saturday, February 13 at Texas Hall. The Mavericks host UTSA at 2 p.m. for a conference match up... The pink uniforms are part of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund in an effort to help promote breast cancer awareness.
The WBCA Pink Zone® initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The Mavericks and Roadrunners game will be televised live on the Southland Conference Network and fans are encouraged to don the color pink in support.
If you are interested in purchasing a jersey or the complete set please contact the UT Arlington athletic department at 817-272-2261.
UT ARLINGTON SIGNS THREE TO NLI
UT Arlington head women's basketball coach Samantha Morrow announced today the program has signed three players to national letters of intents to begin playing for the Mavericks in the fall of 2010.
UTA signed guard Malaika Green (Coppell, Texas/Coppell HS), forward Chevan Goins (Carrollton, Texas/Hebron HS) and center Desherra Nwanguama (Katy, Texas/Cinco Ranch HS).
Green, a 5-5 guard from Coppell High School earned honorable mention honors last year and is the Cowgirls starting point guard this season.
Goins is a two-time all-district recipient and is an Adidas National Junior Phenom Top 20 player. Goins is a member of the Junior National Team and was a Dallas ISD Coke, Lake Dallas ISD and Abilene ISD All-Tournament Team selection.
Nwanguma finished last season with 5.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and led the Cougars to a 23-14 record as a junior.
