Box Score

Post-Game Interview with Mary Gleason (video)

Post-Game Interview with Brittany Barton (video)

Post-Game Interview with Shanice Steenholdt (video)

ARLINGTON – Four Huskies finished in double-figures – including new career highs for Brittany Barton and Tayler Jefferson – but the Huskies could not come back from a halftime deficit in a 78-61 loss at UT-Arlington Saturday afternoon from Texas Hall.

HBU (0-14) was led by both Shanice Steenholdt and Barton with 18 points apiece, as Barton hit four 3-pointers and was plagued by foul trouble in the first half. Jefferson and Devyn Weymouth each scored 10 for the Huskies, as the Huskies shot 32 percent from the floor, 27 percent from beyond the arc, and 88 percent from the free-throw line. Steenholdt led the Huskies on the glass, grabbing 11 rebounds.

Takiyah Langford led UTA (2-8) with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Bianca Sauls scored 15 and Chauntandra Williams added 12. Sabreena DeNure had six assists, five coming in the first half.

UTA scored the game's first three points before the Huskies used a 9-2 run to take a 9-5 lead with 17:31 remaining in the opening half. The Huskies had three-pointers by Barton and Maisie Elston and a three-point play by Weymouth in that span.

The game went back-and-forth for the next 12 minutes, with six lead changes and no team leading by more than two. With 8:19 left in the first half, UTA scored five-straight points for its largest lead of the half, at 25-20. At the start of that run, Barton picked up her third foul, forcing the Huskies to go to the bench and save her for the second half.

Down 25-20, HBU used an 11-6 run to tie the game at 31-all with 2:46 remaining in the opening half, thanks in large part to the Huskies' clutch free-throw shooting, as HBU was 7-of-9 from the charity stripe, and Weymouth was a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.

The Mavericks scored seven-straight points to lead, 38-31, but the Huskies cut the deficit to four on an off-balance trey by Jefferson at the buzzer, as UTA led HBU at the half, 38-34.

Weymouth and Barton scored half-highs of 10 points each, while Steenholdt had five points and a half-high seven rebounds. Hailey Rhymes came off the bench to lead UTA with eight points, while Sauls and Rhymes were each tied with four boards.

The teams traded a basket to start the second half, before UTA went on a 5-0 run to lead by nine, 45-36, with 16:11 left in regulation. Two free throws by Steenholdt halted the run, but the Mavericks' run continued, scoring four more times and holding the Huskies without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the second half, as UTA led 49-38 with 14:15 remaining.

Steenholdt's layup with 13:05 remaining cut the deficit to nine, but UTA scored five straight to lead by 14, 54-40.

The teams continued to exchange baskets, with UTA leading by no more than 14 and no fewer than 11, until a Barton three at the 5:32-mark cut the deficit to nine.

After two Maverick free throws, another Barton three cut the deficit to eight, at 65-57 with 4:25 remaining, but UTA used a 13-4 run to close out the game.

HBU begins 2012 on a season-high five-game home stand, beginning Jan. 3 at 7 pm, when the Huskies welcome Sam Houston State to Sharp Gym. The Huskies defeated SHSU in Huntsville last season, 51-48.