ARLINGTON – The UTA women's basketball team continues Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 4), with a matchup against the preseason Sun Belt favorite Little Rock Trojans. Tip-off at College Park Center is set for 2:00 p.m.

Matchup: UTA (7-6, 1-0 SBC) vs. Little Rock (3-9, 1-0 SBC)
When: Saturday, January 4 | 2:00 p.m.
Where: College Park Center | Arlington, Texas
Live Stats | Live Video (ESPN+) | Tickets

UTA PROBABLE STARTERS
#12 Marie Benson | F
#20 Claire Chastain | G
#21 Terryn Milton | G
#24 Aysia Evans | G
#41 Katie Ferrell | G

STARTING 5 QUICK HITS
#12 Marie Benson (F)
- Leads the Sun Belt Conference in scoring (17.6 ppg)
- Ranked 11th in the league in rebounding (6.3 rpg)
- Named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week twice this season
- Scored a season-high 28 points vs. Texas Southern on Dec. 30
- 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 19th in the conference in scoring (11.2 ppg)
- Ranks 7th 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 (1.8)
- Ranks 6th in the Sun Belt in assists per game (3.3)
- Scored a career-high 18 points at Kansas State
#24 Aysia Evans (G)
- Ranks 6th in the SBC in steals (1.8)
- 5th on the squad in assists (1.5)
#41 Katie Ferrell (F)
- Ranks in the top 15 in the conference in rebounds (10th; 6.5), assists (2nd; 4.5), steals (8th; 1.5) and assist/turnover ratio (5th; 1.5)
- 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

SUN BELT OPENERS
With their 71-44 win over Arkansas State, the Lady Mavs improved to 5-2 all-time in SBC home openers. UTA is now also 3-4 all-time in Sun Belt openers.

PERFECT OPENING WEEKEND
UTA is looking to start SBC play 2-0 for just the third time in program history. The Lady Mavs started the 2014-15 and 2016-17 season 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference action.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT | LITTLE ROCK
- Kyra Collier is approaching her 500th career rebound.
- Little Rock looks to go 2-0 in SBC play for the 4th straight year.
- The Trojans have won six straight conference openers.
- Little Rock is a mixture of experienced and new with five returning players and seven newcomers to the Trojans.
- Little Rock has won the last two Sun Belt Tournament Championship Games by a combined two points.
- The Trojans are the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt Conference. Kyra Collier (First Team) and Tori Laster (Second Team) received preseason all-conference honors.
- Little Rock opened the 2019-20 season with three opponents in the Top 25 rankings, five opponents ranked or receiving votes and nine opponents finishing in the Top 100 in RPI last season.

COLLEGEINSIDER.COM MID-MAJOR TOP 25
For the second week in a row, 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 31.

UTA is one of two Sun Belt Conference squads to appear in the top 25, as Coastal Carolina was ranked No. 24 this week. Troy received 22 votes to rank No. 30.

 Gonzaga held down the top spot in the poll (30 first-place votes; 774 points), while Princeton took the No. 2 position. Missouri State (704 points), South Dakota (689 points) and FGCU (653 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 37.2 percent shooting, which ranks 87th in the country. UTA also ranks in the top 100 nationally in Assists (40th; 16.2) and field goal percentage (86th; 42.5%).

WE'LL TAKE THE COMPLIMENT
Despite going 0-3 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 57.9 percent (36.6 points per game) of UTA's scoring. The trio is also shooting .503 (183-of-364) from the floor.

DYNAMIC DUO
Senior Marie Benson and sophomore Claire Chastain give UTA a top-3 top scoring tandem in the Sun Belt Conference. The duo is averaging a combined 28.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.

Sun Belt Top Scoring Tandems
Kines/Jones (South Ala.) - 29.4 ppg
Blount/Williams (Coastal Carolina) – 29.2 ppg
M. Benson/Chastain (UTA) – 28.8 ppg
Collier/Battle (Little Rock) - 27.4 ppg
Stanley/Polacek (App State) - 26.3 ppg

- UTA's duo has reached double figures in same game 8x (once in conference action) with Lady Mavs going 4-4 overall and 1-0 in SBC play.

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 538 total points this season, holding the opposition to just 58.2 points per game, which would rank t-60th nationally.

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

UTA has also limited five opponents to less than 31 percent shooting from the floor, while forcing 10 of their first 13 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 4th on the squad in rebounds (4.0 rpg) in 20.1 minutes of action.

The Comanche, Okla., native is also leading UTA and the Sun Belt Conference with her .733 shooting percentage

UTA HOOPS TEAMS WITH TYKES U
The UTA men's and women's basketball programs have teamed up with Tykes U to create personalized caricatures of each team, Blaze, the coaching staffs as well as select university dignitaries to be used for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. UTA is the first and only Sun Belt Conference school to team up with Tykes and the Mavs are just one of two schools in the state of Texas to use Tykes (Houston).

The Tykes will be used as part of 'Tykes Thursdays' for UTA basketball games. Tykes could also be used for postseason tournaments (Sun Belt Conference Championship, NCAA Tournament, NIT, WNIT, etc.) as part of the 'Tournament Tykes' initiative for UTA hoops. Fans will see Tykes used on social media graphics, on UTAMavs.com for game previews, in game notes, on game programs/posters and also on video board and marketing collateral. Tykes will also be used in some capacity in marketing efforts during the rest of the season, with t-shirts, fatheads and in-game on the College Park Center video boards.

Based out of Charlotte, N.C., Tykes is a graphic design company that creates customized cartoon character or avatars of celebrities and athletes.

"Working with UT Arlington has been a fantastic experience for Tykes," said Tykes CEO Jason Woullard. "We embrace schools who are looking to expand their brand while taking marketing and recruiting to the next level. UTA has an outlook and a plan that aligns with the Tykes vision, which is why we believe this is a great beginning to a partnership that will enhance the marketability of a school on the rise."