Sunday, Nov. 16
Mavericks Improve to 2-0 for First Time Since 2006-7 Season
ARLINGTON, Texas -- A career-high 22 points from senior Tahlia Pope helped improve the Lady Mavericks to 2-0 after defeating Houston Baptist 83-73 at College Park Center on Sunday.
UTA, winning its first two for the first time since the 2006-07 season, had four in double figures in the contest. Rebekah Van Dijk recorded her first-career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds, besting her opening-night total of 17 points. LaShanda Green added 17 points and 8 assists, while Chaun Williams scored 14 points and picked up 3 steals.
"We knew this game would be a lot tougher than Friday night's," UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich said. "They had a lot of returners and almost returned every starter. I was a little bit concerned that the experience would pose some problems for us but I thought our kids did a really good job of not getting rattled."
The Lady Mavericks hit the road for the first time in this young season when they return to action on Saturday at Wichita State at 2:05 p.m.
UTA controlled the pace of play early in the game. Pope and Van Dijk picked up where they left off from Friday night's win and scored the first 8 points. The Lady Mavs went up 13-6 with a three from Green and would head into the break with a 6-point advantage, up 37-31.
Houston Baptist (0-2) heated up behind the arc in the second half and closed the gap to as close as 8 points with under 10 minutes to play.
However, following two Artavia Ford free-throws, the Lady Mavericks used their energy to steal momentum back. Pope forced a HBU turnover, hit Williams in stride and UTA went on a 9-0 run to regain control.
The Huskies tried to keep it close and continued to knock down 3-pointers in the second half. Houston Baptist would hit all seven of its 3-pointers in the second, shooting 50 percent from 3-point land overall.
Van Dijk's inside play kept the Lady Mavs advantage, scoring 10 points and adding five boards in the second to go along with Popes 13 points.
UTA improved to 5-1 all-time against Houston Baptist with the win, avenging a setback from the 2013-14 opener in which HBU claimed 72-60. The 83 points UTA scored were also the most for either team in the series.
Trojans Drop Close Game to Clemson
CLEMSON, South Carolina – For the second straight game, a late first half run was the downfall for the Troy women's basketball team as the Trojans fell to Clemson, 82-73, at Littlejohn Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.
Troy (0-2) was up by five points, 32-27, with 3:19 to go in the first half, but Clemson (2-0) scored 11 straight to take a 38-32 lead into the locker room. The Trojans missed five shots and had three turnovers during the run as the Tigers took a lead they never gave up.
Clemson actually built the lead up to as many as 13 points with 7:35 to go in the game, but the Trojans cut that lead down to five points twice. However, Troy never got closer as Clemson shot well from the free throw line.
"The let down was the last four minutes of the first half," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "We lost intensity there. We had long spans where we played with great intensity, but we lost it during that stretch. We did a lot of things better than them and we just need to build off of that between now and Friday."
Ronita Garrett led Troy with a double-double in her second straight game, posting 16 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting. Caitlyn Ramirez and Ashley Beverly-Kelley each had 10 points and five rebounds for a Troy team that outrebounded Clemson, 43-40.
Kristen Emerson just missed a double-double as she tied career highs with nine points and eight rebounds. Lacey Buchanon also had nine points for the Trojans.
Troy again struggled with turnovers, committing 23 of them, with seven coming early in the second half while Clemson built its largest lead. The Tigers shot 24-of-27 from the free throw line, including 12-of-13 in the second half to hold the Trojans off.
Shelbie Davenport, one of nine Clemson freshmen, had 17 points to lead the Tigers, despite shooting just 1-of-5 from deep. Clemson, who hit nine 3-pointers in its season-opening win on Friday over UNCG, had just four on Sunday as Troy keyed in on the Tigers' shooters.
Cha'nelle Perry, another freshman, had 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for the Tigers. Nikki Dixon and Ivy Atkism also scored in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Troy shot 43 percent (30-of-70) in the game after shooting just 27 percent in a loss at Auburn on Friday. The Trojans actually made more field goals that the Tigers who hit 27-of-64 shots (42 percent).
The difference came at the charity stripe where Troy was 10-of-15, making less than half as many shots as the Tigers. The total foul count was close, but eight of Clemson's 19 fouls were on the offensive end as Troy's help defense continued to draw charges.
Troy returns to the court on Friday when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana at Trojan Arena at 12 p.m. in the Trojans' home opener. Troy has not started 0-3 in either of Rigby's first two seasons.