ARLINGTON, Texas — The UT Arlington Mavericks busted right out of the starting gates to the tune of a 21-point lead after the game's first 10 minutes and Texas State University never recovered as the Bobcats fell, 74-50, in the first round of the 2020 Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament on Tuesday evening.

Claire Chastain sank a third-chance 3-point basket less than a minute into the game to give UTA (21-10, 14-4) an early 3-0 lead. Jaeda Reed answered less than 30 seconds later with a jumper at the charity strip to make it 3-2.

Texas State (13-17, 6-12) never got that close again.

Marie Benson, the Sun Belt's Newcomer of the Year, and Chastain made back-to-back baskets to extend the Mavericks lead to five points. Reed, again, cut the deficit with a layup, but UTA went on a quick 5-0 scoring run, before the Bobcats managed to make another basket Chelsea Johnson made a layup to make it 12-6 with 5:33 remaining in the first quarter.

Again, UTA went on a scoring run as the Mavericks used a 12-0 run to balloon its lead to 24-6 in less than three minutes. After a Bailey Holle basket made it 24-8, a 6-0 run widen the UTA lead to 30-8. A Kennedy Taylor jumper with 11 seconds remaining in the quarter combined with the front end of two free throws from Katie Mayhue capped the scoring in the quarter for both teams.

A quick 5-0 run by Texas State to open the second quarter made it a 16-point game, but UTA's own 5-0 scoring run pushed the Bobcat deficit back to 21. The two teams traded baskets for a majority of the second quarter, until Katie Ferrell and Bre Wickware banked it back-to-back 3-point shots in the closing minute to send the Bobcats into the locker room at halftime trailing 52-24.

Despite UTA's first-half offensive outburst, the Texas State defense limited the Mavericks' offense to only 22 second-half points, including only nine in the third quarter. This allowed the Bobcats to claw back into the game and outscore UTA, 26-22, throughout the second half.

The loss Tuesday night brings the Texas State 2019-20 women's basketball season to a close.