The UT Arlington women's basketball team was given a gauntlet of a schedule by the Western Athletic Conference to open conference play and the record reflects it. At 0-4, UTA has a hole to climb out of the rest of the way.
Credit to Derryl Trujillo on Twitter, or X, for getting to this stat first as teams in the WAC are 11-4 when they play on their home floor. That's not a terribly good stat for this squad as their schedule has three of the first four conference games away from the friendly confines of College Park Center. The lone home game featured a team that has a legitimate chance to win the conference regular season title.
The losing streak was also exacerbated by the injury report. The good news for UTA is much of that slump came with senior point guard Nya Threatt out. She was back on the floor after missing the first three WAC games to start conference play. She returned to action against Abilene Christian on Saturday.
UTA's overall record is 6-10 as a result of the four game WAC slide, plus a loss to LSU just prior. I didn't have this on my bingo card for at the end of December. But this team could still be a top three basketball squad and that result could still have been a possibility if the games had been distributed more evenly throughout the conference slate.
I won't break down each game, but there has been a similar formula for these games, regardless of opponent. The Mavericks win one quarter easily, there's a quarter that is close and there is a quarter where they lose pretty convincingly. The remaining quarter is a wild card. Usually, the fourth quarter sees UTA almost get there, but falter in some way. We'll look closer at that in these four games.
The Mavericks started the second season in Stephenville against Tarleton State. The score by quarter was: 1st - 19-11, 2nd - 8-17, 3rd - 19-19 and 4th - 11-19. Final score was TSU 66, UTA 57. The fourth quarter started tied at 46 and with 2:21 left in the game, UTA trailed 54-57. It was a Tarleton run of 9-3 that sealed it, including six made free throws in eight tries.
Only junior guard Jadyn Atchison, a transfer from Old Dominion, was in double figures with 15. Freshman of the Year candidate in forward Kira Reynolds was limited to only eight. If she gets closer to her per game average near 12, this game is totally different. If Threatt is in the starting lineup, this game is also likely very different at the end, even if the result doesn't change.
In the second WAC game of 2025/26, the Lady Mavericks traveled to Riverside, California for a road game against the current undefeated team in conference, the California Baptist Lancers. The final score of 85-64 is a little more lopsided than the actual game was.
The quarter-by-quarter scores aren't indicative of how close this game was in many respects. With 6:40 remaining in the third quarter, the game was tied at 45. With four minutes remaining, UTA trailed by just two points. But like I alluded to earlier, and it happening in the latter portion of the third instead of fourth quarter, UTA didn't have the stamina to keep up the tempo.
Quarter scores for the CBU game were as follows: 1st - 19-24, 2nd - 17-19, 3rd 13-20 (after tying the score, the Lancers went on a run of 18-4) and 4th - 22-15. All in all, this isn't a terrible road outing as CBU was my pick after the non-conference schedule to win the regular season trophy. It isn't good, just not an extreme in the other direction.
UTA's next game was in Arlington against the only other team that I think can challenge the Lancers in Southern Utah. It was the closest WAC loss of the year, but a loss nonetheless. The formula was still the same as UTA lost the first quarter 9-20, won the second (13-9) and third (21-15) but lost the fourth in a close score of 12-14. UTA trailed the entirety of the final frame as they entered it behind by one point. The lead for the Thunderbirds never eclipsed five, but never was below two after the first made SUU bucket of the frame. UTA was five for 11 shooting, including missing two three-point attempts, as well as missed on one of only two free throw attempts. Any of those could have changed the fortunes as the defense did enough in that quarter. SUU was held to four of 14 shooting and turned it over three times.
Further complicating matters, and credit to the T-bird defense, the Mavs turned the ball over seven times in the final frame. It is hard to gain traction when shots made is less than the number of times you give the other team possession. I have to think that would not have been as dramatic if Threatt was in the lineup.
This past Saturday, UTA went to Abilene and played the Wildcats of Abilene Christian. UTA scored one more point than the prior outing, but gave up an extra one as well in another three-point loss. The Mavericks fought to an early lead, only for ACU to win the first 16-19. In the second, it was a low scoring quarter of 8-9. UTA lost the third 15-17 before winning the fourth for the first time in conference play, 17-14.
Entering the final stanza, UTA trailed by six. Three straight buckets and a free throw gave UTA the lead with only two and a half minutes gone off the clock. The teams kept trading buckets, with no team getting more than a two-point lead. Threatt tied the game with a layup at the 1:24 mark. ACU scored on their next possession. Atchison made one of two free throws on the Mavs next possession, which came with a couple of seconds more than half a minute remaining. UTA tried for a steal, didn't get it and with nine seconds remaining, fouled. The Wildcats made both. UTA had a chance, but Threatt missed a three, UTA got a dead ball rebound and junior forward Mila Reynolds missed a second three at the buzzer.
It is encouraging to see UTA was competitive in all four games. They may be the best team in America that is last in their conference. They can compete with anyone in the WAC. With the WAC switching from a round robin conference schedule to a three-game slate against the other six teams, UTA did not draw well as they travel to Southern Utah twice and have another trip in store to CBU. They'll play in Stephenville again this month.
However, the same alarm bell that has been going off all year is still ringing. The lack of offense has been a struggle. The Mavs average 60.3 points per game, last in the conference. The team just ahead, Utah Valley, is at the 64.1 ppg mark. UTA is staying in the game thanks to a defense giving up around 66.5 points a game, less than a point per game away from third place.
The weird thing is we are seeing some players step up one night for double digits, then go cold the next. I've said this a few times, but hopefully Threatt's return will start to even some of that inefficiency out. Only Kira Reynolds is in the double figures average with 12.38 points a game. That is good for ninth in the WAC. ACU has three players ahead of that total. Southern Utah has two. Among WAC teams, only Tarleton State is lacking a player ahead of UTA's top scorer.
UTA starts a home slate soon and I'd expect there to be a slight turnaround. Utah Tech comes CPC next on Thursday. The Trailblazers are 6-8 on the year, but only one game ahead of UTA in the standings at 1-3 in WAC play. The lone win was against in-state rival Utah Valley. Losses were to the same as UTA's: SUU, ACU and SBU. Tip off time is at 6:30 pm.
Two days later, the Wolverines of Utah Valley visit Arlington with a tip off set for 1 pm. UVU is 9-7 on the season near the midway mark and 2-3 in the WAC. Their WAC wins are against Tarleton State and Abilene Christian while the losses are to CBU in overtime, Southern Utah and the aforementioned game against UT.
After this week, I think we'll have a great understanding if the start of conference play was a fluke and UTA can be a contender in the WAC or if this team is destined to play spoiler.
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