The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Marshall
UAB Holds Off Marshall For 50-45 Victory
2/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2012
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- The UAB women's basketball team saw a 16-point lead disappear Sunday at Marshall but withstood the Thundering Herd's challenge to pull out a 50-45 Conference USA road victory at the Cam Henderson Center.
Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman led all scorers with 12 points, including 10 in the second half. Senior guard LaShaunda Pratt shot 3-for-3 from beyond the arc on her way to 11 points, while junior guard Kelsie Weynand came off the bench to spark the Blazers with 10 points, the most of her UAB career.
The Blazers (16-5, 7-2 C-USA) won for the first time in Huntington since 2008 and improved to 4-1 on the road in conference play, while Marshall (13-9, 4-5 C-USA) suffered its sixth loss in the past seven games.
"I'm proud of the resiliency our team showed today," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "We got up big in the first half, but we knew Marshall wasn't going to go away. They're a tough team and we expected a fight. We didn't get down on ourselves when they came all the way back, and we were able to hang in there and make shots when we needed to."
Rasheda Henriques led a balanced Marshall scoring attack with 10 points, and nine different Thundering Herd players scored in the game.
UAB knocked down 43.5 percent of its shots for the afternoon, its second-highest percentage of the season. Though the Blazers managed just 16 shot attempts in the second half, they were able to connect on 10 of them.
The Blazers turned 19 Marshall turnovers into 22 points, while the Thundering Herd converted 18 UAB miscues into just 10 points. In the first half alone, UAB held a 14-0 edge in points off turnovers.
UAB missed its first six shots from the floor Sunday but then knocked down 10 of its next 15 to build a 16-point lead at 24-8. Marshall responded with a 12-0 run over the final four minutes of the first half to cut the Blazers' lead to 24-20 at the break. Weynand scored eight of her 10 points off the bench in the opening half.
Marshall then charged back from an eight-point deficit early in the second half to take a one-point lead twice, but the Blazers responded immediately both times.
Lateidra Elliott put Marshall on top, 33-32, at the 12:48 mark, but Michaela Kleist answered for UAB with a lay-in on the other end. Elliott then hit a jumper to give the Herd a 35-34 advantage, but Chapman nailed a shot on the ensuing possession to put the Blazers back on top.
Marshall tied the score on last time at 38-38 with 8:34 to play but never led again. UAB pushed its lead to seven before Marshall made one final push. A steal and lay-in by Elliott cut the Blazers' lead to 47-45, but UAB scored the game's last three points at the free throw line to finish off the win.
UAB junior guard Khalilah Watson matched her season-high with five assists -- all in the first half -- and did not commit a turnover. Over the past two games, Watson has totaled 10 assists and just one giveaway. Backcourt mate Amber Jones scored nine points to go along with three assists.
The Blazers return to Birmingham this week to host East Carolina on Thursday with a 7 p.m. CT tipoff at Bartow Arena.
