Last season, no player for UT Arlington averaged more than Shyia Smith, who scored 11.1 points per game. The team as a whole ranked 269th in points per game per Her Hoop Stats, but the team was 10th in scoring defense, in large part because the team played slow, ranking 260th in pace.
With Bre Wickware — second on the Mavs in scoring last year — gone, the 2021-22 Mavs entered this year in need of a scoring threat.
Enter Starr Jacobs.
Through six games, Jacobs is averaging 21.3 points per game on 60.6 percent shooting. She's looking to be UTA's first 20 PPG scorer ever — the program's single-season leader is Tracy Burr, who averaged 19.6 per game in the 1986-87 season.
Who is Starr Jacobs?
The redshirt junior out of Duncanville was ESPN's No. 14 wing in the 2018 class and won consecutive state titles with the Pantherettes.
Jacobs initially committed to Houston, but redshirt her first year and landed at Temple College.
In her first year there, Jacobs averaged 18.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game on 56.1% shooting. She followed that up last season by averaging 23.6 points per game, second among all JuCo players, and 10.6 rebounds per game. She was a WBCA All-American and scored 40 points in a game against Weatherford.
Now, Jacobs is in Arlington, where she's started all six games for the team.
What Jacobs brings to UTA
Scoring.
As mentioned above, the Mavs didn't have a scorer like Jacobs in the past, which meant the team has had to slow games down and win with defense.
This year has been different.
After ranking 10th in scoring defense last year, the team is 286th so far, though two overtime games and contests against Baylor and Kansas City have negatively impacted that.
But even with the defense looking worse on paper, the Mavs are 4-2. One of those two losses saw the team play a tight first half against Baylor, while the other was a shootout loss against Kansas City. (The team faces No. 13 South Florida on Thursday night, which could be bad for some of these numbers.)
Jacobs' ability to put the ball in the bucket is giving UTA a chance every night.
Let's dig into some specific stats, starting with some team comparisons between this year and last year.
This season, UTA is still shooting below average in most spots on the floor. Per CBB Analytics:
Starr Jacobs.
As you can see on the play above, Jacobs is a really fluid finisher at the hoop. As soon as she gets this pass from Katie Ferrell, she's turning, lifting and putting the ball in over the KC defender.
Jacobs has been incredibly efficient in the paint this season, and the Mavs are working hard to get her the ball down there: