SHERMAN TX (12.15.10) - The UT Dallas women's basketball team used efficient offense and shut-down defense Wednesday night to record their record-setting ninth straight win to open the season, a 71-50 road non-conference road victory over Austin College.

UTD (9-0), which has never started a season better than 7-0, tied its all-time longest win streak by shooting over 50 percent from the field throughout and holding the Lady 'Roos (3-4) to less than 30 percent shooting until late in the game.

Senior Tarneisha Scott was repeatedly able to shake free underneath, and led all scorers with 20 points. Combined with a game-high 10 rebounds, Scott picked up her fourth double-double of the young season. Junior Lyndsey Smith had 13 points and junior Amy Doyle added 10 points to round out the Comets in double figures.

The Comets jumped out to quick lead, grabbing an 11-2 advantage with 12:19 left before the break after a Tawni Ichumura three-pointer. UTD shot better than 52 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes to grab a 19-point lead at the half, 39-20.

Austin College scored the opening four points of the second half to trim the Comet lead to 15 points, 39-24, but that would be as close as the Kangaroos would get as Scott stopped the run with a three-pointer with 19:08 remaining. UTD pulled ahead by as many as 29 points in the second half before securing the 21-point win.

UTD ended the night 26-of-58 (44.8%) from the field as a team, hitting 38.5 percent (5-of-13) from three-point range, and hit just 14-of-23 (60.9%) from the foul line.

The biggest factor, however, was defense as Austin College managed to connect on just 17 of 56 points from the field (30.4 percent) and just 4-of-24 three-point attempts. The Comets forced 15 turnovers, had 10 steals and blocked six shots, including three from Katy Spence.