The Lady Colonel basketball squad fell to the University of Texas-Arlington Mavericks 60-40 in Southland Conference action at Stopher Gym on Saturday. Besides limiting the Lady Colonels to 40 points, the league-leading Mavericks out rebounded the Lady Colonels 44-30, including grabbing 21 offensive rebounds in the game.
Mavericks head women’s basketball coach Donna Capps said keeping up defensive intensity has been a goal.
“The first of the year we played that hard for 20 minutes maybe 30, but the last few games we’ve been able to maintain it for 40,” Capps said. “If we keep that up, it’s going to be a lot more pleasant year.”
Head women’s basketball coach Mark Cook said UTA played “championship defense.”
“They’re shooting the ball well, and they’re playing very good defense,” Cook said.
Maverick guard Terra Wallace led all scorers with 21 points, but was limited to six points in the second half. While the Lady Colonels contained Wallace, guard Maryann Abanobi led seven other Mavericks besides Wallace who scored in the second half with six points.
“A lot of people try to take Terra out of the game, but so far we’ve been able to overcome that with other people stepping up,” Capps said. “I don’t know how long that’ll last, but while it’s working, we’re happy.”
After an early 5-5 tie three minutes into the game, the Mavericks (12-5 overall and 6-0 in SLC play) took control with an 18-4 run to take a 23-9 lead. Wallace scored nine points via 3 three-pointers during the run.
The Lady Colonels (2-15, 1-5) could get no closer than 12 points the rest of the first half as they headed into halftime trailing 34-18.
The Mavericks picked up 12 offensive rebounds during the first half while the Lady Colonels managed three. The Mavericks finished the game with 21 total offensive rebounds while the Lady Colonels had eight
“Because they just shoot the ball so well, you can’t give them a second chance shot,” Cook said. “You have to keep them to one, and we did a better job of that in the second half.”
The Mavericks opened the second half on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 22 points, their largest of the game.
The Lady Colonels responded with a 13-2 run to cut the lead to 42-31 with 11:38 remaining in the ball game. Junior guard Jamie Octave, who finished with a team-high 19 points, and freshmen center Funaki Kefu led the team during the run with four points a piece.
After extending their lead back to 13 points (50-37), the Mavericks closed out the game on a 10-3 run to take the victory.
Even though her squad won the game by 20 points, Capps said the score was not an accurate depiction of the game. She said she was never relaxed with two players like Octave and Lady Colonels sophomore guard Katherine Plummer on the court.
“Those two kids can play for anybody,” Capps said. “Number 10 (Octave)..she is a quality player. Towards the end we got a few (points) and we got a couple of calls and those things happen, but the score was not indicative of the game.”
The Lady Colonels shot 34.1 percent for the game and 28.6 percent from behind the arc. The Mavericks finished the game shooting 32.3 percent and 38.1 percent from three-point range. The Lady Colonels shot 62.5 percent from the free throw line while the Mavericks finished the game making 60 percent of its free throws.
The Lady Colonels return to action when they travel to Beaumont, Texas, to take on the Lamar Lady Cardinals on Thursday.
