The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Auburn
Women's Basketball Falls To No. 15 Auburn, 91-62
11/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2008
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- Auburn's DeWanna Bonner scored 29 points and grabbed eight rebound to lead the 15th-ranked Tiger women's basketball team to a 91-62 victory over UAB Wednesday night in Bartow Arena.
Bonner, a senior guard/forward, went 9-of-14 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Sophomore guard Amanda Peterson scored a career-high 20 points as she hit six three-pointers, to pace the Blazers.
UAB moved to 1-3 overall, while Auburn improved its record to 5-0.
After Auburn took the early lead, UAB bounced back and took its first lead of the game, 16-15, on a free throw by junior guard Fatiha Salaam at the 11:31 mark in the first half.
The Blazers went up by two on multiple occasions before the Tigers came back to gain a six-point lead, 32-26, with 3:16 left before the break. Peterson hit back-to-back three pointers as UAB scored six unanswered points to close out the half and enter halftime tied with Auburn, 32-32.
In the second half, UAB came out and took its largest lead of the game, 37-34, with 18:52 left on the clock. The game was tied at 39-all at 17:00 before Auburn went on a 23-5 run over the next eight-and-a-half minutes to go up by 18, 62-44, with 8:26 remaining in the game. The Tigers continued to hit shots and contain the Blazers down the stretch as Auburn defeated UAB, 91-62.
"I am very proud of how we played in the first half," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "We defended well and took some things away from them. We were also getting the ball moving on the offensive side and making shots. We were playing hard and with a lot of intensity.
"We played good the first five minutes of the second half as well. But, once things started to go wrong, it seemed to snowball. We weren't getting stops on the defensive end and we gave up way too many layups. We couldn't get anything going on the offensive end either."
UAB shot 38.7 percent in the first half, but cooled off in the second half, hitting just 25.0 percent of its shots. The Blazers, who shot 31.3 percent for the game, also shot 46.7 percent from three-point range and 72.2 percent from the free throw line.
Peterson tallied a career-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting overall, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. The six treys in a game also marked a new career best for Peterson.
Senior guard Britney Jones chipped in 15 points for the Blazers, while also adding a team-best four assists. Junior forward Tamika Dukes paced UAB on the boards with six rebounds. Dukes also had five points and a game-high five steals against the Tigers.
Auburn shot 64.2 percent overall for the game, including going 22-of-29 (75.9 percent) from the field in the second half. The Tigers put 40.0 percent of their three pointers in the basket and sank 70.0 percent of their free throws.
Morgan Jennings contributed 14 points for the Tigers and Reneisha Hobbs scored 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
UAB will be back in action on Friday when it plays Evansville during the first day of the Samford Classic tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT.
"After the first half of today's game, I know how well we are capable of playing," said Smith. "If we play the rest of the season like we did in the first half tonight, we will be just fine. We have two games coming up this weekend that we need to focus on and get ready for. We can't dwell on the Auburn game."
