Photo Gallery

HOUSTON – Sophomore guard Rachel Arthur led a quartet of Huskies in double figures with 17 points, as HBU defeated visiting UT Arlington in both teams' season openers, 72-60, Friday evening at Sharp Gym.

Arthur paced HBU (1-0), as she shot 6-of-13 from the floor, 1-of-2 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Anna Strickland scored 12 points in her Huskies debut, while Heidi Sihvola and Shanice Steenholdt added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Ekemini Essien grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.

Briana Walker led UT Arlington (0-1) with a double-double of 31 points and 12 rebounds. Desherra Nwanguma grabbed 11 boards and scored eight points.

UTA jumped out to a 6-0 lead before an Arthur trey cut the deficit in half, 6-3, at the 17:32-mark. Sihvola grabbed a defensive board and went to the house, as the Huskies led for the first time on the night, 7-6, with 14:27 remaining in the first half.

The Mavericks retook the lead and led by as many as five several times in the first half, as the Huskies could only come as close as one. Leading 16-15 with 9:34 remaining in the opening half, UTA closed out the half on a 16-13 run to lead HBU by four, 32-28, at the break.

Walker led all players in the first half with 14 points, while Strickland led HBU with eight points.

UTA led by six twice in the first three minutes of the second half before the Huskies used a 19-8 run to lead by five, 50-45, with 11:26 remaining in regulation. The Huskies took the lead on a three-pointer by Sihvola.

The Mavericks cut the deficit to as low as three, 58-55, with 6:33 remaining in the game, but HBU closed out the final minutes with a 14-5 run.

HBU will remain in Houston for its next two games: at Texas Southern on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7 pm, then the Huskies host Southern Utah on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 6:30 pm.