NACOGDOCHES, Texas --- The UT Arlington women's basketball team (9-11, 3-5 WAC) nearly overcame injuries to two starters before ultimately dropping an 85-72 matchup on the road against Stephen F. Austin (16-3, 6-1 WAC) inside the William R. Johnson Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lady Mavs will be back in action against California Baptist (9-9, 5-2 WAC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. inside the College Park Center.
 
Against the Ladyjacks, who were the preseason pick to win the WAC by the coaches and media, UTA lost the services of two starters for the final quarter as Jireh Washington and De'Sha Benjamin went down in the final minute of the third quarter. Washington, who scored six of her 16 points in the third quarter alone, left with 59 seconds left. Then, on SFA's final possession of the quarter, Benjamin drew a charge on Destini Lombard but was injured in the process. She departed the game with seven points and four rebounds.
 
Following that, the Lady Mavs searched for an answer on offense, opening the fourth quarter 0-for-7 from the field as a team before Shyia Smith got the team on the board with a layup at the 5:32 mark. Just over a minute later, a free throw from Starr Jacobs trimmed the deficit to seven. The Ladyjacks answered with a 7-0 run to push the lead to 14 with 2:26 left, but back-to-back three-point plays by Jacobs and Kayla White trimmed the margin down to eight with 2:08 left.
 
Another three-point play from Jacobs trimmed it to seven with 1:11 remaining, but Stephen F. Austin closed the game on a 6-0 run.
 

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Jacobs had another tremendous performance for the Lady Mavs, producing game-highs in points (19), rebounds (12) and steals (6) while adding a team-best four assists. It was her WAC-leading fourth double-double over eight conference games, as well as the sixth of the season and 10th of her career. On top of that, she tallied at least four offensive rebounds for the fourth time in WAC play, established a new career-best in steals and matched her career-high in assists.
 
Early on, neither team could miss as the Lady Mavs led three times in back-and-forth action that resulted in a 15-10 lead following a layup from Jacobs with 4:35 left. The Ladyjacks answered with nine straight, however, and took a 25-20 lead into the second quarter on a buzzer-beating shot from mid-range from Jordan Harrison.
 
Lombard's 3-pointer early in the second quarter pushed the margin to six for SFA, but a quick 7-0 run - punctuated by a steal by Smith and a layup from Jacobs - gave the Lady Mavs a 29-28 lead with 6:44 left in the half. Unfortunately, the hosts answered with a 17-6 run to take a 45-35 lead just over four minutes later before taking an eight-point lead into the half.
 
Down by 11 on three occasions early in the third, the Lady Mavs responded and trimmed the deficit to just four with 5:03 left on a 3-pointer from Benjamin. Unfortunately, it would be the closest UTA got over the rest of the game.
 
In addition to the 35 combined points from Jacobs and Washington, White finished with 13 points while Smith contributed 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
Notes
For the 10th time this year, the Lady Mavs used a starting lineup consisting of Jacobs, Washington, Smith, Benjamin and White. Combined, they now have 496 games of NCAA Division I experience.
 
With her scoring output, White eclipsed 1,300 career points and now has 1,303. She also eclipsed 500 made field goals and has tallied double-digit points in 12 of the past 14 games.
 
Benjamin needs one more 3-pointer to reach 100 in her career.
 
Jacobs continued to ascend toward 1,000 career points and now sits just 78 shy of the milestone.
 
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