The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Blazers Knock Off Southern Miss for Fifth Straight Win
1/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The UAB women's basketball team captured a hard-fought 49-46 victory at Southern Miss on Friday night at Reed Green Coliseum. The Blazers improved to 9-6, 3-0 in Conference USA, with their fifth straight win and seventh in the last eight contests.
"This was a full team effort and it wasn't pretty, but we got the job done," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "It's important to go on the road and snag a conference win because it does a lot for the confidence of this young team."
UAB defeated the Lady Eagles (4-12, 0-3 C-USA) for the first time in the last eight meetings, dating back to February of 2006. It also marked the first win at Southern Miss since February of 2001.
"It's an intense rivalry," Smith said. "I could tell by the way our team practiced and came out in the game that they really wanted this one, especially the seniors."
It was an all-around team effort, as nine different Blazers scored and 12 had at least one rebound. Senior forward Tamika Dukes led UAB with 10 points and six rebounds, marking her 10th double-digit game in a row.
"I'm proud of the contributions we had from everyone," Smith said. "We had different players knocking down shots, getting steals and jumping in on rebounds. That's what you have to do to get the win in a game like this."
For Southern Miss, guard Candace Rucker led all scorers with 23 points and also had four steals in the contest.
UAB's performance at the stripe proved to be the difference in the game, as the Blazers made 9-of-10 free throws in the second half, all coming in the final 1:17 of the contest.
The rebounding margin also was key to UAB's victory, as the Blazers owned a 49-31 advantage on the boards, including a 19-10 advantage on the offensive glass. That led to 14 second-chance points for UAB compared to the Lady Eagles' eight points.
The Blazers also outscored Southern Miss, 22-14, in the paint and had 17 points off the bench compared to the Lady Eagles' seven.
Both teams got off to a slow start, as Southern Miss led, 7-6 with 9:52 left in the first half. An 11-1 run broke things open for the Blazers, and they took a seven point lead into halftime, 22-15.
The Blazers stretched their lead to 16 with a 9-0 run to open the second half, holding the Lady Eagles without a field goal for 4:44 coming out of the break.
Although UAB never relinquished the lead, Southern Miss began to chip away at it, cutting the Blazers' lead to two with 2:28 left in the game. That's when the Lady Eagles began fouling, giving junior guard Amanda Peterson a chance to give the Blazers a cushion as she drained a pair of free throws.
The Green and Gold rebuilt the lead to six points with 53 seconds remaining, but Rucker's pair of jumpers pulled the Lady Eagles within three. This time, freshman guard Jala Harris knocked down two free throws, then Peterson sealed the win with two more.
UAB continues its road trip on Sunday, traveling to UCF for a 4 p.m. (CT) contest. The game will air live on ESPN2.
