HOUSTON, Texas --- Kayla White made two free throws in the final seconds, and Shyia Smith secured her first double-double in a Lady Mav uniform as the UT Arlington women's basketball team (4-4) defeated the University of Houston (1-6) 67-64 on the road in the Fertitta Center Thursday night.
 
With the victory, the Lady Mavs have now won two straight and registered their first road win of the season. They'll be back in action on the road Saturday at Lamar at 2 p.m.
 
White finished with team-bests in points (16), assists (4) and steals (3) while also adding four rebounds and finishing 5-of-11 from the field. She extended the lead to three twice in the final 40 seconds. The first came with 38 seconds left on a mid-range jumper, and she then made a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left after Houston made a layup to trim the lead to one.
 
Following those free throws, Houston's Britney Onyeje missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with a few seconds left. The Lady Mavs then ran out the clock as time expired to secure the victory.
 
Outside of White, Smith produced her second career double-double at the NCAA Division I level with 13 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of assists on 5-of-10 shooting. She also led the team on the offensive glass with five. It was her second double-digit rebounding game in a Lady Mav uniform, and her previous double-double came in a Wichita State uniform on Nov. 29, 2019.
 
Starr Jacobs was the third player in double-figure scoring for UT Arlington as the fifth-year forward tallied 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. A pair of freshmen – Alexsyah Goudeau and Taleyah Jones - also tallied eight points. In doing so, Goudeau matched her season-high in scoring along with producing three rebounds. Jones finished two shy of matching her season-high set against Texas Southern on Nov. 7.
 
Reniya Jones, who joined Goudeau in making her second-consecutive start, chipped in five points in 23 minutes. White scored four of those 10 points as the Lady Mavs took a four-point lead into the second quarter despite a late 4-0 run from the Cougars.
 
In the second quarter, Smith scored six points in a one-minute stretch to keep the Lady Mavs ahead 19-16. Houston then took three separate leads before extending the margin to as many as four on a fastbreak layup from Laila Blair with 2:54 left in the half. Reniya Jones found Taleyah Jones for a layup with 21 seconds left, though, to give UTA a 30-29 lead at the break. Smith had eight of her points in the quarter alone.
 
A four-point spurt from Taleyah Jones pushed the Lady Mav lead to 49-37 with 2:50 left in the third quarter, although a Houston layup in the final seconds trimmed the margin to nine.
 
A layup from Jacobs with 6:15 left and a jumper from De'Sha Benjamin with 5:35 left in regulation gave UT Arlington a pair of 10-point leads but Houston responded with an 8-0 run over the next two and a half minutes. Jacobs answered that by making a layup with 1:25 left to end a 4:10 scoreless drought for UTA. The Cougars responded by pulling within one twice, the second of which came on the layup with 17 seconds left. White then hit her free throws as UTA made the winning plays.
 
Notes
Thursday's victory was the 725th in program history for UT Arlington. They have now won three in a row in the all-time series against Houston after dropping the first 10 in the series.
 
White's performance was her fourth straight and sixth overall with double-digit points this year.
 
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