The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
North Texas
UAB's Balanced Attack Tops North Texas, 74-40
2/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Box Score 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A balanced scoring night along with another strong defensive effort propelled the UAB women's basketball team past North Texas, 74-40, on Thursday night. The Blazers held their second-straight opponent to under 45 points.
"This was a real good win for us," head coach Randy Norton said. "One thing that sticks out right now is that we had 24 assists. I felt like we were really unselfish and we moved the basketball. We really took advantage of them trapping our posts, Janae (Smith) and Kayla (Anderson) and all of our posts did a great job of finding people and we made them pay. We challenged them at halftime to step up defensively and we held them to 17 points in the second half. I felt like we played much better on the defensive end."
It was a true team effort as all 13 players eligible to play appeared in the game for UAB (13-10, 7-5 C-USA). The team shot 50.9 percent from the field and dished out a season-high 24 assists on 28 field goals. The Blazers also continued to play solid on the defensive end, holding North Texas (3-19, 2-9 C-USA) to just 29.5 percent shooting.
Of the 13 players, 11 of those scored on the night. Seniors Janae Smith and Miranda Burroughs led the charge with 18 and 12 points, respectively. Smith recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 11 rebounds and junior Kayla Anderson added eight as the Blazers outrebounded North Texas 46-36. All put one player picked up a rebound. Anderson along with sophomore Janeka Williams led the Blazers with six assists each.
UAB took control of the game early with a 7-0 lead, holding North Texas scoreless until the 17:38 mark. The Mean Green used a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the game, 11-9. The Blazers responded with five-straight points after layups from Smith and junior Lauren McGraw to retake the lead, 14-11 with 9:16 to play in the first half.
The teams traded points back-and-forth until an 11-0 run for the Blazers, which included three 3-pointers, put UAB out front, 25-16, with 4:49 on the clock. UAB then closed out the half with a 10-2 run to head into halftime up, 35-23. Burroughs had three of her four 3-pointers in the opening period.
UAB burst out of the gates in the second half with a 10-0 run to take its largest lead of the game at the time, 42-23. Tough defense by the Blazers held North Texas with just one basket in the first six minutes of the second half.
The team also found its rhythm from beyond the arc with three of its first six baskets coming from 3-point range as Black, Burroughs and freshman Whytney Singleton netted a three. Anderson put in a layup to stretch the lead out to 52-29, with 11:32 remaining in the game.
Anderson used one of her assists to find Smith down low as the senior converted the layup to continue to hold UAB's lead to 23 points, 58-35, with 7:43 left in the game. Shortly after, junior Bianca Dufelmeier hit her second 3-pointer of the night as the Blazers led North Texas, 61-35.
Once again UAB proved its defensive power, holding the Mean Green scoreless for five minutes until a layup with a minute remaining. With a 70-40 lead, freshman Maya Garland came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer for her first career-points as a Blazer as UAB closed out the 74-40 win.
"It was just a good win for us and we're just taking it one game at a time and now we're going to get ready for the next one," Norton added.
The Blazers will return to Bartow Arena on Saturday for a matchup with Rice. The game is slated to start at 2 p.m. CT. Fans are encouraged to wear pink as it has been designated as the annual Pink Game to raise awareness for breast cancer.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For women's basketball news, follow @UAB_WBB.
