UT Arlington women bounce back with 39-point win over Georgia Southern

UT Arlington shot 55.6 percent from the field in a 70-31 Sun Belt Conference win over Georgia Southern on Saturday night at College Park Center.

It was the biggest margin of victory for the Mavericks since a 51-point victory over Nicholls State in 2007.

UTA recovered from blowing a double-digit lead in a 68-63 loss Wednesday to Georgia State.

“It says a lot about our kids and what they are made of and kind of their intentions,” UTA coach Krista Gerlich said via the UTAmavs.com website. “They really took to heart what happened on Wednesday and learned from it and came out and made a statement.”

Georgia Southern shot only 22 percent for the game (9 of 41). The Eagles never scored in double digits in a quarter until the final period.

Cierra Johnson led UTA (6-6, 1-1 Sun Belt) with 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

Amara Wainwright had 15 points, shooting 3 of 6 on 3-pointers and 6 of 10 overall. Breck Clark had career-high 11 points and Rebekah VanDijk added 10.

Hitting seven of its first eight shots, UTA built a 17-3 lead. The Mavericks held Georgia Southern to just two field goals in the first seven minutes.

The Mavericks owned a 20-4 advantage in points in the paint for the first half behind VanDijk’s 4-of-6 shooting.

UTA forced 22 turnovers for a 23-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 9:32 PM with the headline "UT Arlington women bounce back with 39-point win over Georgia Southern."