The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Rice
UAB's Hot Shooting Downs Rice, 75-59
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Box Score 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - For the second-straight game the UAB women's basketball team finished above 50 percent from the field as the Blazers topped Rice, 75-59, on Saturday afternoon.
"We're pleased getting two wins at home this week," head coach Randy Norton said. "It was one of those situations where you're playing a couple of teams that don't have great records, but they're very dangerous. In Conference USA, anybody can beat anybody on any given night."
UAB (14-10, 8-5 C-USA) remained hot offensively in its fifth-straight win at home with a 54.7 field goal percentage on the day. The Blazers, who also lead the league in defense, held Rice (7-16, 2-10 C-USA) to just 38.1 percent.
"(Coach) Greg Williams has done a great job at Rice," Norton stated. "His teams are always prepared and they're fighting to get in the conference tournament, so I knew we were in for a battle."
Senior Janae Smith led with 27 points, while junior Brittany Winborne added 11 as UAB worked the ball inside well with a 40-26 advantage in the paint. Junior Chelsee Black added nine points and dished out a season-high six assists.
The Blazers also did a solid job on the boards, outrebounding Rice, 38-35. The Owls were averaging a league-leading 43.6 rebounds entering the game. Winborne finished with a team-high seven boards and Smith picked up six.
"I'm pleased with our girls," Norton remarked. "Janae (Smith) had a great day. I thought our players did a great job of looking to get her the ball. Chelsee Black was great at the point for us with nine points, six assists and just two turnovers. Lauren McGraw and Brittany Winborne came off the bench and were productive for us."
UAB took the lead early in the game with a 5-0 run, including a 3-pointer from senior Miranda Burroughs. Rice answered that three with their first goal of the game at the 17:45 mark. Rice then suffered a 3:37 scoring drought, which UAB took advantage of with a 12-2 lead.
UAB continued its tight defense and played a strong rebound game, which caused Rice to suffer another scoring drought for 3:47, giving the Blazers a 16-4 advantage with 10:38 to play.
At the 7:21 mark, Winborne put in a layup that gave UAB its largest lead of the first half, 22-6. Rice reduced UAB's lead back into the single digits, 30-21, after a layup at the 2:44 mark. The teams continued to trade baskets for the remainder of the half, as the Blazers took a 34-25 lead into the break.
To open the second half, Rice began to immediately put pressure on the Blazers by scoring at the 19:50 mark. UAB stretched the lead back to 11 points, but the Owls would not go away as they cut the lead down to six, 42-36, with 16:11 to go.
The Blazers returned to a more aggressive offense, making a 9-0 run that included threes from Smith and Burroughs, to go ahead 51-36. Rice made another run that cut the lead to 10, but UAB remained focused with an 8-0 run of its own capped off by a jumper for Black to make it 62-44, with 9:34 remaining on the clock.
UAB would take its largest lead of the game, 73-53, after a free throw from Black at the 2:21 mark. The Blazers stayed in control to close out the game with a 75-59 win.
"It's a good win, you want to play your best basketball towards the end of the year and I feel like that's the direction we're headed," Norton said. "We've got a tough stretch. We go to Western Kentucky, Marshall, who has been playing well, and then Middle Tennessee. We're just going to take one game at a time, focus on ourselves and play to the best of our ability."
UAB will have three-straight games on the road beginning with a matchup at Western Kentucky on Thursday night at 7 p.m. CT.
