MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball faces Texas-Arlington on the road on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.  The game is part of a doubleheader with the men's teams squaring off afterwards.
 
Fans can watch the game through UTAMavs.com, listen at http://995thejag.com/listen or get updates on Twitter (@SouthALWBB) or live stats via USAJaguars.com.
 
The meeting between Texas-Arlington will mark the ninth in the all-time series between the two clubs.  The Mavericks hold a 5-3 record in the series.  Texas-Arlington defeated South Alabama 73-49 earlier this season in the Mitchell Center on Jan. 12th.  The two teams split the season series last year with the home team prevailing for the win in the two games.  The Jaguars won 59-55 on Jan. 16th, and the Mavericks won 53-49 on March 3rd.  South Alabama swept the season series in the first year (2013-14) they played each other as Sun Belt opponents, and both games were overtime victories for the Jags.  Texas-Arlington swept the series the next season. 
 
Fourth-year South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler and fourth-year Texas-Arlington head coach Krista Gerlich have led the schools for all seven meetings as Sun Belt opponents.
 
South Alabama fell 55-39 at Texas State in its last game on Thursday night.  Entering the third quarter trailing 26-18, South Alabama scored the first two baskets and held Texas State scoreless for nearly four minutes.  The Bobcats responded with an 8-2 run.  Candice Williams converted a three-point play to cut South Alabama's deficit to seven points with 2:49 left in the quarter.  The Bobcats scored the next five points on back-to-back possessions, and LaNeetra Guillory hit a jumper before the quarter ended.
 
The Bobcats stretched their 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter to 17 points.  Texas State started the quarter on a 7-0 run, holding South Alabama scoreless for almost four minutes.  The closest the Jags would be for the rest of regulation was 14 points, as they scored just 10 points in the quarter. 
 
The Jags finished just 27.5% (14-51) from the field, 16.7% (3-18) from three and 72.7% (8-11) from the line.  South Alabama had just six assists and lost the turnover battle 18-9, leading to 11 steals and a 15-10 advantage in points off turnovers for Texas State.  South Alabama won the rebounding battle 41-35, and turned 15 offensive rebounds into a 10-5 second chance points' advantage.
 
Candice Williams scored a team-high nine points.  Kennedi Centers and Guillory both had seven points, and Ellis had game-highs of 12 rebounds and three blocks.
 
Ellis became the schools' all-time leader in career blocks after recording a game-high and season-high six rejections two games ago against Coastal Carolina that gave her 212 career rejections, passing LaSandra Jenkins' (1982-85) 210 blocks.  She now has 215 career rejections.
 
She enters the game averaging 3.1 rejections per game that tops the Sun Belt and ranks eighth in the NCAA.  She has recorded a block in each game played this season and is 13th in the nation and first in the conference in total blocked shots (77).  Her total number of blocks this season are more than six of the schools in the conference have as a team, and her average rejections per game is greater than seven teams' average.
 
She already has the third-most blocks in a season in program history. With her five rejections against Coastal Carolina, she moved ahead of Delk's 2004 total of 65 and surpassed Jenkins' 1984 total of 62 with two rejections at Louisiana-Monroe.  Previously she tied Adrian Vickers' 1990 total with four blocks at Louisiana-Lafayette and surpassed her freshman total of 56 with two blocks at Troy.  She is also on pace for 89 rejections this season, which would surpass her blocked shot total (82) from last year and Jenkins'  single-season blocks record (86 rejections) set in 1983.
 
Texas-Arlington (18-7, 11-4) enters the game with a win in its last game, 78-72 at home against Troy, and three wins in its last four games.  With an 11-4 record in the Sun Belt Conference, Texas-Arlington is tied with Troy for second place, three games behind first place Little Rock and one game ahead of fourth place Texas State and Louisiana-Lafayette.
 
In the SBC Texas-Arlington ranks first in steals (11.2 spg), assist/turnover ratio (0.9) and turnover margin (+4.8 tpg), second in scoring margin (+8.2 ppg), scoring offense (69.1 ppg) and assists (15.7 apg) and third in three-point field goal percentage (31.8%) and field goal percentage (41.4%).  The Mavs are last in three-point field goal percentage defense (34.6%) and third-to-last in defensive rebounds (22.6 rpg).
 
Junior center Rebekah VanDijk ranks among one of the top post players in the league.  VanDijk places second in scoring (15.5 ppg), field goal percentage (55.8%) and offensive rebounds (4.0 rpg), fourth in rebounding (8.8 rpg), sixth in blocked shots (1.5 bpg) and seventh in defensive rebounds (4.8 rpg).  Junior guard Cierra Johnson also ranks among the best guard players in the conference, leading the Sun Belt in steals (3.0 spg) and placing seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.2), eighth in assists (3.3 apg), ninth in field goal percentage (44.2%), 12th in scoring (12.5 ppg), 15th in rebounding (6.1 rpg).
 
Junior guard Christiana Devers is the third Maverick to average double-digits in scoring (10.8 ppg) and also ranks 11th in steals (1.7 spg) and 15th in three-point field goals made (1.3 per game).  Freshman guard Ericka Mattingly has been an efficient guard all season, ranking in the league second in steals (2.5 spg), third in assists (3.8 apg) and eighth in assist/turnover ratio (1.1).
 
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your our ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the @FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).