ARLINGTON – The UTA women's basketball team continues Sun Belt Conference with a road matchup to App State on Thursday night (Jan. 9). Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. CT.

Matchup: UTA (8-6, 2-0 SBC) at Appalachian State (3-10, 0-2 SBC)
When: Thursday, January 9 | 5:30 p.m. CT
Where: Holmes Convocation Center | Boone, N.C.
Live Stats | Live Video (ESPN+)

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 (18.2 ppg)- Ranked 11th in the league in rebounding (6.4 rpg)
- Named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week 3x this season
- Scored a season-high 28 points vs. Texas Southern on Dec. 30
- Shooting .531 from the field this season, which ranks 4th in the SBC
- Waiver to play immediately approved by the NCAA prior to the Nov. 15 UNT game
#20 Claire Chastain (G)
- Ranks 23rd in the conference in scoring (10.5 ppg)
- Ranks 10th in the Sun Belt in 3pt FG made per game (1.4)
- 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 4th in the Sun Belt in assists per game (3.4)
- Scored a career-high 18 points at Kansas State
#24 Aysia evans (G)
- Ranks 6th in the SBC in steals (1.9)
- 5th on the squad in assists (1.4)
#41 Katie Ferrell (F)
- Ranks in the top 15 in the conference in rebounds (9th; 6.4), assists (2nd; 4.6), steals (t-13th; 1.5) and assist/turnover ratio (4th; 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

PERFECT OPENING WEEKEND
With their wins over Arkansas State and Little Rock last week, UTA opened 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.

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.

SUN BELT PLAYER OF THE WEEK...FOR THE 3RD TIME
For the third time this season, Marie Benson was honored by the Sun Belt Conference as the league's Player of the Week after helping guide UTA to a 2-1 record last week, including a perfect 2-0 start to league play.

The Sun Belt's leading scorer (18.2 ppg) averaged 21.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals, while shooting 57.1 percent (28-of-49) from the field last week. Against Texas Southern, she shot 11-of-25 from the field and 6-of-14 from the charity stripe to finish with her team-high 28 points. The Waco native also pulled down 10 boards against TSU to register her 2nd double-double of the season (29th of her career). The senior knocked down 6-of-8 shots and finished with 12 points in UTA's win over Arkansas State and she followed that performance with 25 points (11-of-16 FG), 7 boards and 4 steals to help the Lady Mavs pick up their first win over defending SBC tourney champion Little Rock since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2013-14 (had lost 10 in a row to the Trojans, including 4 straight at CPC).

This season, Benson has scored 15+ points on 10 occasions and has scored 20+ points four times. She has also led the Lady Mavs in scoring nine times and rebounds on seven occasions.

COLLEGEINSIDER.COM MID-MAJOR TOP 25
The UTA women's basketball team earned 13 votes in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll that was released on Tuesday, January 7. UTA is one of three Sun Belt Conference squads to appear in the poll, as Coastal Carolina was ranked No. 21 this week and Troy received 43 votes to rank No. 27.

Gonzaga held down the top spot in the poll (31 first-place votes; 775 points), while Missouri State took the No. 2 position. Princeton (717 points), South Dakota (689 points) and FGCU (652 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 89th in the country. UTA also ranks in the top 100 nationally in Assists (33rd; 16.5), field goal percentage (74th; 43.0%) and assist/turnover ratio (95th; 0.96).

TAKE 'EM AND MAKE 'EM
Misty Dossey has been extremely efficient shooting the ball over the last five games. The sophomore has made 84.2 percent (16-of-19) of her shots from the field for the Lady Mavs over the last five outings.

Dossey has also averaged 6.4 ppg and 3.0 rpg during that span.

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 28.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

Sun Belt Top Scoring Tandems
Blount/Williams (Coastal Carolina) – 31.0 ppg
Kines/Jones (South Ala.) - 29.6 ppg
M. Benson/Chastain (UTA) – 28.7 ppg
Collier/Battle (Little Rock) - 27.4 ppg
Stanley/Polacek (App State) - 26.9 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.

UTA'S BIG 3
Marie Benson, Claire Chastain and Misty Dossey have combined to account for 57.3 percent (36.3 points per game) of UTA's scoring. The trio is also shooting .506 (197-of-389) from the floor.

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 640 total points this season, holding the opposition to just 58.2 points per game, which would rank t-58th nationally.

The Lady Mavs have held opponents below 65 points nine 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 11 of their first 14 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 7.6 points. She has made a pair of starts and also ranks 3rd on the squad in rebounds (4.1 rpg) in 20.2 minutes of action.

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