EDINBURG, Texas --- The UT Arlington women's basketball team (9-10, 3-4 WAC) exacted a bit of revenge Thursday night with a 71-65 win over UTRGV (7-10, 1-5 WAC) on the road inside the Bert Ogden Arena.
In doing so, the Lady Mavs avenged an 83-73 loss to the Vaqueros on Jan. 4. They are now 8-3 all-time against UTRGV, and Thursday's meeting was the first in Edinburg since Dec. 18, 2013.
Starr Jacobs led UTA with a team-high 22 points along with five rebounds, four assists and a team-high four steals. She produced 18 of her 22 points in the second half alone on 8-of-10 shooting. It was her 20th career game with at least 20 points, and she reached 900 career points late in the game as she continues to march toward 1,000.
De'Sha Benjamin produced a season-best 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting, which included a 3-of-5 finish from long distance. She also added three assists, two rebounds and a steal. Meanwhile,
Shyia Smith continued her strong foul shooting while tallying her 32nd career double-digit scoring game, finishing 6-of-6 en route to 10 points and five rebounds. She is now 16-of-17 from the charity stripe over the past two games.
Jireh Washington, who opened the game with a steal and fast break layup that led to a three-point play, finished with nine points, a game-high seven assists, four rebounds and two steals. It was her eighth game this year with at least five distributions.
Kamaria Gipson continued her strong play, registering a team-best six rebounds along with six points over 14 minutes. Five of her rebounds came on the offensive glass.
The Lady Mavs committed just 13 turnovers, which was their second-lowest total of the season behind the 10 against Texas Southern on Nov. 7.
The game, which featured four ties, saw UTA take a 7-2 lead early before UTRGV rallied for a tie at seven apiece. While the Lady Mavs eventually stretched the margin to eight a few minutes later, the Vaqueros managed to force three more ties in the second quarter. However, a 9-0 run, kickstarted by a fastbreak layup from Benjamin, put UTA in control at the half.
From there, UT Arlington never trailed despite UTRGV trimming its deficit to just one on three occasions in the third quarter. Jacobs (8) and Smith (6) combined for 14 of UTA's 16 points in the final frame to seal the deal.
After producing the program's 730th all-time win, the Lady Mavs will conclude the road trip on Saturday against Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m.
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