ARLINGTON - Marie Benson scored a game-high 12 points as the UTA women's basketball team knocked off crosstown foe SMU, 51-46, on Sunday afternoon at College Park Center.

With the win, UTA improves to 6-5 on the year, while the Mustangs fall to 5-5 on the season.

Benson shot 5-of-15 from the field and 2-of-4 from the charity stripe to register her game-high 12 points. The Waco native also added four boards, three assists and a pair of steals on the afternoon. Aysia Evans chipped in with 10 points in 22 minutes off the bench, while Misty Dossey added eight points, a career-high six assists, three boards and three blocks. Terryn Milton registered six points, four assists and three rebounds, while Katie Ferrell finished with four points, four assists and a game-high eight boards.

SMU was limited to just 30.2 percent (19-of-63) shooting from the field, while the Lady Mavs knocked down knocked down 42.0 percent (21-of-50) of their shots from the field.

The Lady Mavs jumped on the Mustangs early, locking up SMU defensively to take a 14-4 lead after 10 minutes of play. SMU's 4 points in the opening quarter are the fewest points UTA has allowed in the first period this season. The Lady Maverick defense held SMU scoreless over the final 6:03 of the period and also forced the Mustangs into six turnovers over the final 8:09 of the quarter.

The second quarter was much of the same as UTA held SMU scoreless for the first 2:10 of the second quarter. Combined with their scoreless drought to end the first period, SMU was held without a field goal for a total of 8:13. The Lady Mavericks gave up 13 points in the quarter, but held the Mustangs without a point over the final 4:53 of the half to take a 31-17 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

UTA shot 50 percent (13-of-26) in the first half, while limiting the Mustangs to just 7-of-33 from the field (21.2 percent) and forcing SMU into 10 turnovers.

SMU closed the third quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the UTA lead down to nine points (40-31). A couple of quick SMU buckets to start the fourth forced UTA to call a timeout with the lead down to five. SMU was able to cut the Lady Mavericks lead down to three points, but UTA held off the Mustangs to pick up the 51-46 win.

The Lady Mavs will be back in action on Monday, Dec. 30 when they welcome Texas Southern to College Park Center for their final non-conference matchup of the season. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.