The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UCF
Women's Basketball Slips By UCF, 68-63
2/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2008
UAB vs. UCF box Score 
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Final Stats
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB women's basketball team earned a 68-63 win over UCF Thursday evening at Bartow Arena, securing the Blazers a top four seed and a first round bye in next week's Conference USA Tournament.
UAB improves to 14-14 overall and 10-5 in league play, while UCF falls to 9-19 overall and 2-13 in the conference. The Blazers are sitting in third place in C-USA with just one game remaining in the regular season. UAB is one game ahead of fourth-place Houston and three games in front of Southern Miss and East Carolina, who are tied for fifth.
UAB held a 14-point advantage at halftime, 33-19, but UCF opened the second half with a 12-3 run that cut the Blazers' lead to three, 36-33, with 15:41 remaining.
The Blazers went on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to regain their double-digit lead, 45-33.
UCF made another run, outscoring UAB 12-4 over a four-minute span to come within three of the Blazers, 66-63, with 52 seconds left in the game. A pair of free throws by UAB senior Christon Ingram with 15 seconds remaining on the clock secured the win for the Blazers, 68-63.
"This was an important game for us," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "UCF is a young, but very talented team. Every time we would get a comfortable lead, UCF would make a run and start breathing down our necks.
"In the end, we squeaked this one out. It was crucial for us to clinch one of the top four seeds in the tournament so we could get that first round bye. That will be very important come next week."
The Blazers hit 42.1 percent of their shots on the night, including 42.3 percent from three-point range. UAB went 11-of-26 from beyond the arc, matching its season-best 11 made three-pointers, previously set at East Carolina on Feb. 21.
Junior guard Britney Jones paced UAB in scoring for the third consecutive game, tallying 19 points and adding six rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Freshman guard Amanda Peterson went 4-of-4 from beyond the arc for 12 points, while senior guard Crystal McFadden chipped in 12 points for the Blazers. McFadden also had five assists on the night.
UCF shot 34.8 percent on the night, including 33.3 percent from three-point range and 73.3 percent from the charity stripe.
D'Nay Daniels and Marshay White led UCF with 16 points each. Tia Lewis had six points and a game-high 17 rebounds.
The Blazers will play their final regular season game Saturday when they host the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CT at Bartow Arena.
