Feb. 24, 2009

Arlington, Texas -

Lamar University at UT Arlington

GAME #26
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON (16-9 Overall, 10-2 SLC) vs. LAMAR UNIVERSITY (18-7 Overall, 9-3 SLC)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
7 p.m. - Texas Hall - Arlington, Texas

LIVE STATS
- Updated statistics, news releases, phone numbers, Live Game Statistics and more is available at www.utamavs.cstv.com.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
- The Cardinals improved to 18-7 overall after recording a 80-77 win against Northwestern State on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Panther Coliseum.

- Trashanna Smith finished with 21 points and 22 rebounds while Darika Hill collected 18 points.

- For the game, Lamar shot 45.3 percent from the floor to NWS 41.4 percent. Lamar out-rebounded Northwestern State by a 45-34 margin.

SERIES HISTORY WITH THE CARDINALS
All-Time Record - UT Arlington leads 21-13
Last Meeting - Lamar University won, 65-60 on January 14, 2009 in Beaumont, Texas
Last UTA Victory - UTA won, 69-46 on February 14, 2008 in Arlington, Texas
Current Streak - Lamar won the last meeting against the Mavericks

LAST TIME VS. THE CARDINALS
- The Mavs were out-rebounded by a 44-40 margin against the Cardinals.

- UTA shot 25 percent (1-of-4) from three-point range to Lamar's 50 percent (5-of-10).

- LU's Nikki Williams was deadly from behind the arc, connecting on five of 10 attempts from three-point range.

- Two Cardinals finished with double-doubles in Brittany Williams and Trashanna Smith. Williams collected 11 points and 12 rebounds while Smith added 10 points and 12 boards.

- Meghan Nelson scored 15 points while Erin Dixon finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Champion added 11 points and seven boards.

UTA Women's Basketball Coach Goes "Barefoot for a Cause"
Morrow will coach without shoes against Lamar on Feb. 25
to benefit Samaritan's Feet and Family Legacy Missions International

The Lady Mavericks head coach will patrol the sidelines at Texas Hall in her bare feet ... in an effort to raise awareness for impoverished children around the world. Morrow is teaming up with Samaritan's Feet, a nonprofit organization that distributes shoes to deserving children in the United States and worldwide, and Family Legacy Missions International, an Irving-based ministry that serves the needs of Zambian AIDs orphans, to go "Barefoot for a Cause" during her squad's 7 p.m. game against the Lady Cardinals.

GAME RECAP: UT ARLINGTON AT CENTRAL ARKANSAS
-The UT Arlington women's basketball team got back on track with the help of four double-digit scoring performances including a season-high 25 points and 22 rebounds by senior Candice Champion in a 98-69 victory against Central Arkansas on Saturday, February 21 in Conway, Ark.

With the win, UTA improved to 16-9 overall and 10-2 in conference action while the Sugar Bears fell to 6-19 on the season and 2-10 in league play.

Despite 51 points in the first half by UT Arlington, Carnisha Bolden kept the Sugar Bears in striking distance with 18 first half points, all of her points coming from behind the arc.

UTA headed into the locker rooms with a 51-39 halftime advantage over Central Arkansas.

The Mavericks finished shooting 52.9 percent from the field compared to UCA's 42.4 percent and out-rebounded the Sugar Bears 26-11 in the first half.

UT Arlington continued to pour on the points, leading by as many as 30 at 83-53 with 8:15 left in the game. The Mavericks maintained a 25-plus lead over the Sugar Bears the rest of the game.

Champion went 12-of-18 from the field including 1-of-2 from the charity stripe and brought down a career-high 22 boards while Tamara Simmons connected on 20 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field including 3-of-7 from behind the arc, 5-of-6 from the free throw line and dished out seven assists.

Junior Meghan Nelson collected 15 points while senior Erin Dixon added 14 and Shalyn Martin scored 10 points.

Central Arkansas's Bolden finished with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field including 8-of-9 from the free throw line.

For the game, UT Arlington shot 52.1 percent from the floor, 37.5 percent from three-point range and 76 percent from the free throw line. The Mavericks recorded 56 points in the paint to UCA's 18 and out-rebounded the Sugar Bears by a 55-28 margin.

SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE NOTES
- Southland TV Game of the Week: Northwestern State at UTSA Lady Demons and Roadrunners to battle Wednesday night in San Antonio

- Southland Conference rivals UTSA and Northwestern State will be center stage Wednesday at 7 p.m. in San Antonio as the Lady Demons take on the Roadrunners at the Convocation Center. The game will be broadcast on the Southland Conference Television Network.

UTSA and UT Arlington share the league's top record in conference play at 10-2. UTA took both regular season meetings giving the Mavs the tie breaker over the Roadrunners, putting the defending tournament champions in a must win situation in order to claim the number one seed for the Southland Conference Basketball Tournament in Katy, Texas on March 11.

Northwestern State leads the all-time series against UTSA, 25-10, however, the Roadrunners have won the last five against the Lady Demons and enter the contest winning eight of their last nine games.

DIXON AND CHAMPION LEAD SLC IN SCORING AND REBOUNDING
- As the only two seniors on the Mavericks squad, forwards Candice Champion and Erin Dixon have done their part to lead the Mavs to a 10-2 league mark and 16-9 overall record.

- Champion has scored in double-figures in 23 of UTA's 24 games this season and has finished with 20 or more points in 12 games. She leads the league in scoring with 17.7 points per game and sits behind Dixon in rebounding with 9.7 per game.

- Champion's 53.8 field-goal percentage ranks her 28th in the NCAA standings.

- Fellow senior Dixon has dominated the boards for the Mavericks and league since the start of the season. Dixon leads the conference with 10.9 rebounds per game and the team with 10 per game.

- Dixon has collected 11 double-doubles this season and has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in 14 contests this season. She is 18th in the NCAA with 10 per game while Champion ranks 26th with 9.7.

MAVERICKS DROP FIRST HOME GAME
- After collecting six straight victories at Texas Hall, SE Louisiana ended the Mavericks win streak on Wednesday, February 18 with a 74-82 victory.

- The Lady Lions also ended UT Arlington's eight straight victories. The Maviecks had posted home wins against Midwestern State, Houston Baptist, Texas State, UTSA, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Northwestern State.

- The Mavs final home games will be versus Lamar (Feb. 25), and Nicholls State (Mar. 4).

CHAMPION EARNS THIRD SLC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
- After leading the Mavs to wins over Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State, senior Candice Champion was named the Southland Conference women's basketball player of the week for the third time this season.

- Champion led the Mavericks to a 2-0 record with 44 points and 20 rebounds. The Waco, Texas, native finished with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-6 from the free throw line to go along with eight rebounds and two assists on the road against Stephen F. Austin.

- For the fifth time this season, Champion recorded a double-double performance at home against Sam Houston State with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Champion was 8-of-10 from the field, including 6-of-6 from the charity stripe and added two assists in 39 minutes of action. She leads the team with 17.1 points per game and is perfect at the free throw line.

UTA LEADS LEAGUE IN POW HONORS
- Since the first player of the week results released on Monday, November 17, the Mavericks have recorded four weekly awards.

- Senior Candice Champion was the first to be named followed by sophomore Tamara Simmons and Champion has collected two more titles under her belt.

- The only other school that comes close to the Mavericks is UTSA as Monica Gibbs and Amber Gregg each grabbed an honor.

Meghan Nelson TAKES OVER THE POINT
- With the loss of starting point guard Kiarra Shofner in the first conference game of the season against Texas State, UT Arlington looked to junior Meghan Neslon to step in and be the Mavericks new floor general.

- Nelson has done exactly that leading the Mavs in scoring in four of five games in conference.

- Stepping again against UTSA (2/14) for the top spot in the West was Nelson, who recorded a career-high 24 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field and grabbed seven boards for the Mavs.

- The junior guard scored a game-high 21 points versus UTSA (1/14), followed by a team-high 15 points on the road against Lamar (1/17) and notched a season-high 23 points at Stephen F. Austin (1/21).

- In conference action, Nelson is third on the team in scoring with 11.9 points per game and in points scored with 246.

CHAMPION NEEDS 65 POINTS TO REACH 1,000 POINT MILESTONE
- With seven conference games left on the 2008-09 season and the Southland Conference Tournament nearing, senior Candice Champion is well on her way to reaching the 1,000 point club.

- So far this season, Champion has pocketed 439 points and has already surpassed her point tally from last season.

- In conference alone, the senior is averaging 17.9 points per game and 17.4 overall. In Champion's last seven games, she has finished with 20 or ore points in five of seven games.

JUNIOR Kiarra Shofner RETURNS TO MAVERICKS LINEUP
- Kiarra Shofner made her first appearance on the court for the Mavericks on Wednesday, February 11 against McNeese State in Lake Charles, La. after missing out on eight conference games.

- Shofner suffered a knee injury in the Mavs first conference game against Texas State on January 10.

- The junior guard played three minutes against the Cowgirls.