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By Michael Eldridge | @DFWSportsMike

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - In a battle of the Sun Belt Conference's best defensive teams, it was UALR which showed its strength to win its 10th in a row over UT Arlington 66-38 at Jack Stephens Center on Saturday.

The Lady Mavericks (9-9, 3-6) fell for the third consecutive game and went to .500 overall on the season for the first time. UALR, the conference leader, improved to 16-2 and 9-0 in SBC play with its win, the third consecutive over the Lady Mavs dating back to last season.

"There is a reason they are undefeated in the Sun Belt and I think they really showed why," UT Arlington coach Krista Gerlich said. "I thought for the first six to eight minutes we really battled and followed our game plan, but when Van Dijk has to sit down it hurts us offensively and we didn't have players step up and stick to the game plan. Against a team like Little Rock if you give them any space they are going to make you pay."

The turnover margin was a large part of the team's struggles against the Trojans. UTA turned the ball over 17 times compared to UALR's eight and the Trojans took advantage. UALR outscored UTA 17-3 in points off of turnovers.

Rebekah Van Dijk was the lone Lady Mav to reach double figures, scoring 11 points. UALR finished with three in double figures, led by Shanity James' 17 points.

UTA jumped out to an early lead with a bucket from Van Dijk on the opening possession. Van Dijk scored the team's first five points of the game, followed by a Chaun Williams layup to give the Lady Mavs a 7-4 lead seven minutes into the game.

LaShanda Green responded to a short UALR run with a 3-pointer that sent the Trojans into a timeout with the game tied at 12-12. UALR came out of the timeout and scored the game's next seven points to pull ahead. Williams and Cierra Johnson scored on back-to-back trips down the floor to cut the lead before UALR clamped down.

The Trojans closed the first half with a 15-2 run, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to send UALR into the break up 38-20.

UALR carried the momentum into the second half on both sides of the ball, outscoring UTA 16-6 through the half's first 12 minutes and held UTA's shooting to just 15.4 percent on 2-for-13 shooting.

Continuing to run on offense, the Trojans finished the second half with 45.5 percent shooting, 41 percent overall, and outscored the Lady Mavs 28-18 in the second to close out the game.

Notes: The 28-point margin was UTA's largest defeat of the season... Freshman Rebekah Van Dijk has had at least one stat in double digits in all but one game this season (UNT, Dec. 21)... UTA entered with the 11th-ranked scoring defense in the nation at 53.5 points per game, while UALR was 4th at 50.8 points.

UP NEXT: UT Arlington returns home for a two-game stand that begins on Thursday when it hosts Georgia State at 5 p.m. at College Park Center.