ARLINGTON, Texas – The UTA women's basketball team hosts Texas Southern (4-6) in their final game of 2019 on Monday night (Dec. 30). Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at College Park Center.

Matchup: UTA (6-5) vs. Texas Southern (4-6)
When: Monday, December 30 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: College Park Center | Arlington, Texas
Live Stats | Live Video (ESPN+) | Tickets

UTA PROBABLE STARTERS
#3 Misty Dossey |C
#12 Marie Benson | F
#20 Claire Chastain | G
#21 Terryn Milton | G
#41 Katie Ferrell | G

STARTING 5 QUICK HITS
#3 Misty Dossey (C)
- Leads the league in field goal percentage (.706)
- 5th in the Sun Belt Conference in blocks (1.2 bpg)
#12 Marie Benson (F)
- Leads the Sun Belt Conference in scoring (17.1 ppg)
- Ranked 10th in the league in rebounding (6.3 rpg)
- Named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week twice this season
- Scored a season-high 27 points at Grambling on Nov. 18
- Shooting .516 from the field this season, which ranks 5th in the SBC
- Waiver to play immediately approved by the NCAA prior to the Nov. 15 UNT game
#20 Claire Chastain (G)
- Ranks 24th in the conference in scoring (10.5 ppg)
- Ranks 10th in the Sun Belt in 3pt FG made per game (1.5)
- Scored 22 points vs. #8 Louisville in the Paradise Jam
#21 Terryn Milton (G)
- Ranks 2nd in the Sun Belt in assists/turnover ratio (2.0)
- Ranks 6th in the Sun Belt in assists per game (3.3)
- Scored a career-high 18 points at Kansas State
- Shooting .750 from behind the free-throw line this season
#41 Katie Ferrell (F)
- Ranks in the top 15 in the conference in rebounds (15th; 6.1), assists (2nd; 4.2) and assist/turnover ratio (5th; 1.4)
- Ranked in the top 100 nationally in total steals (48th), steals per game (54th), assist-to-turnover ratio (56th), total assists (88th) and assists per game (92nd) last season

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | TEXAS SOUTHERN
- Second-year head coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke returns to the TSU sidelines for the first time since 2011-12. She spent the 2011-12 season at TSU and led them to the SWAC Regular Season Championship for the first time in school history.
- Guard Ciani Cryor is off to a sizzling start as she's averaging 15.1 points, 7.4 assists and 3.7 steals. As of Dec. 26, she ranks 3rd nationally in assists per game and 5th in steals.
- Senior forward Niya Mitchell completed the trifecta as she was named the SWAC's Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year in addition to earning first team honors. A 5-10 senior from Bay City, Texas, Mitchell averaged a double-double last season, scoring 14.4 points and 10.7 rebounds per contest. She's averaging 14.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.5 steals this season. She ranks 9th in steals per game nationally.
- TSU was picked fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll after finishing the 2018-19 season in fifth. TSU has a revamped roster with only five letterwinners retuning while they welcome nine newcomers and two redshirts.

COLLEGEINSIDER.COM MID-MAJOR TOP 25
The UTA women's basketball team took the No. 25 spot in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll that was released on Tuesday, December 24.

UTA is one of four Sun Belt Conference schools to appear in the Mid-Major Poll this week, along with Coastal Carolina (RV, 36), Troy (RV, 23) and App State (RV, 2).

Gonzaga held down the top spot in the poll (30 first-place votes; 774 points), while Princeton took the No. 2 position. Missouri State (714 points), South Dakota (668 points) and FGCU (642 points) rounded out the top-five.

The CollegeInsider.com Women's Mid-Major Top-25 is now in its 10th season of existence. The poll is made up of teams from the following conferences: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast, Western Athletic and is voted on by a panel of 31 coaches.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Lady Mavericks are limiting opponents to just 36.7 percent shooting, which ranks 76th in the country. UTA also ranks in the top 100 nationally in Assists (57th; 15.7) and field goal percentage (90th; 42.6%).

WE'LL TAKE THE COMPLIMENT
Despite an 0-3 showing at the 2019 Paradise Jam, the Lady Mavs played hard and left an impression on fans and opponents during the event.

Louisville head coach Jeff Walz was very complimentary of UTA in his postgame interview..."I expected this. I told our kids that UTA played a physical brand of basketball. I was very impressed with watching them in film study."

He followed those comments up with a tweet to Coach Gerlich following the Lady Mavs' matchup with the Cardinals..."I will be following your team all season long! Love the spirit and passion they play with. It's good for our game and something that fans will come watch."

UTA'S BIG 3
Marie Benson, Claire Chastain and Misty Dossey have combined to account for 56.6 percent (35.4 points per game) of UTA's scoring. The trio is also shooting .490 (146-of-298) from the floor.

DYNAMIC DUO
Senior Marie Benson and sophomore Claire Chastain give UTA a top-5 scoring tandem in the Sun Belt Conference. The duo is averaging a combined 27.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

Sun Belt Top Scoring Tandems
Kines/Jones (South Ala.) - 28.2 ppg
Blount/Williams (Coastal Carolina) - 28.1 ppg
Collier/Battle (Little Rock) - 27.9 ppg
M. Benson/Chastain (UTA) – 27.6 ppg
Stanley/Polacek (App State) - 26.9 ppg

- UTA's duo has reached double figures in same game 6x with Lady Mavs going 3-3.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Minus the three games against a pair of top-10 opponents (#1 Oregon, #8 Louisville) and a Big XII opponent (Okla. St.) at the 2019 Paradise Jam, UTA has allowed 464 total points this season, holding the opposition to just 58.0 points per game, which would rank 62nd nationally.

The Lady Mavs have held opponents below 65 points seven times this season, while also holding this year's opposition below 55 points or fewer on five occasions.

UTA has also limited five opponents to less than 31 percent shooting from the floor, while forcing eight of their first 11 opponents into 14+ turnovers.

WHEN PREPARATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY
After averaging just 2.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.3 assists in 6.6 minutes of action as a freshman in 2018-19, Misty Dossey put in a lot of work on her game over the summer and has become a much improved player for the Lady Mavs.

This season, Dossey is the team's third-leading scorer averaging 7.8 points. She also ranks tied-third on the squad in rebounds (4.3 rpg) in 19.9 minutes of action.

The Comanche, Okla., native is also leading UTA and the Sun Belt Conference with her .706 shooting percentage.