ARLINGTON, Texas - Midwestern State battled the University of Texas at Arlington point-for-point in the opening half Wednesday at Texas Hall.

But the Mavericks scored the game's first 12 points, then closed the half with a 16-2 spurt to take control before intermission and cruised to a 90-49 win over MSU.

"They're athletic and they can shoot and drive," MSU coach Noel Johnson said. "They were the complete team and a really good test for us tonight. I felt like we were on our heels all night."

Midwestern State, which fell to 1-2 on the season, battles Harding (Ark.) University Saturday afternoon in Searcy. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

Cierra Thompson stopped the run when she followed a missed layup by Regiane Araujo to put the Mustangs on the board 5:55 into the contest.

After UTA's Meghan Nelson followed followed Tamara Simmons' 3 from the left wing with a tradition three-point play to give the Mavericks an 18-2, the Mustangs responded by outscoring the Mavs 17-2 over the ensuing eight minutes.

Araujo, who finished with just two rebounds after coming in averaging 12 a game, accounted for five of her team-high 15 points during the span that saw the Mustangs cut the UTA advantage to 10 on Savannah Carver's layup in transition at the 6:12 mark, then pulled to within 26-17 a minute later.

"(Araujo) has been under the weather and got a little winded early," Johnson said. "She needed to have a little more rebounding edge."

But that's as close as MSU would get as the Mavericks closed the first half on an 16-2 run and extended it by scoring the first five points of the second half before Andrea Buben canned a trey from the left wing 2:09 into the half to end the Mustangs' five-minute drought without a field goal.

It was all Mavericks from then on.

Senior forward Erin Dixon scored a game-high 24 points to lead UTA as the Mavs placed three scorers in double figures.

Buben added 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting including half of the Mustangs' four 3-pointers of the contest.

Junior Brittany Bryant paced Midwestern with seven rebounds, while junior Michele Kenney saw her first action of the season and had five points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.

"Michele has been proving herself in practice and really stepped it up tonight," Johnson said. "She did a great job for us."

Texas-Arlington, which competes in the Southland Conference of NCAA Division I, evened its record at 2-2. The Mavericks were 19-10 and were second in the Southland's West Division with at 13-3 in 2007-08.

"When you're outmanned, it's hard to have that confidence," Johnson said. "I am proud of their effort and how the kids got out and played hard."