The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Women's Basketball Opens Season Friday Night Against Drake
11/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2001
The UAB Women's basketball team opens one of its most challenging schedules ever when it plays Drake in the first round of the GlaxoSmithKline Invitational, hosted by North Carolina State.
Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CST in Raleigh, N.C.
UAB was 20-11 last year and advanced to the Women's NIT final eight. This year there are seven potential non-conference opponents who are ranked in the top 25 in the various polls. This tournament features two of those teams, Drake and the host Wolfpack.
Drake, the first round opponent is coming off a 23-7 season in which they won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title over Final Four participant Southwest Missouri State. The Bulldogs return four starters and eight letter winners from that team.
The host of the tournament, N.C. State advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last year and was 22-11 overall. They are ranked in the top 20 in most pre-season polls. The Wolfpack are led by legendary coach Kay Yow, who has 611 career wins.
Radford, 8-19 last year, is the other team in the tournament. The Highlanders play N.C. State in the first game Friday night. Saturday's games are at 12:30 and 2:30 CST.
UAB's head coach Jeannie Milling has an impressive resume of her own. She needs just three wins to reach the 400-victory plateau. Milling is in her 25th year as a collegiate head coach and her 15th as head coach of the Lady Blazers.
The Lady Blazers also have one of the top players in the country in All-American and Conference USA Player of the Year, Deanna Jackson (6-2, Sr., Brewton, Ala.). She was second in the nation in scoring, averaging 25.1 points per game and sixth in rebounding with 11.5 boards per game. During the season she should become UAB's all-time leading rebounder and move up to second on the all-time scoring chart.
Jackson heads up one of the more talented front lines in Conference USA. Sophomore Natasha Thomas (6-2, Moulton, Ala.) averaged 10.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in earning C-USA All-Freshman honors. She scored 39 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the two exhibition games.
Former C-USA Freshman of the Year, center Michelle Smith (6-3, Jr., Chattanooga, Tenn.) missed the first 12 games last year with a stress fracture and never returned to form. This year the junior is fully healthy and it has shown in the two exhibition games. Smith has scored 29 points and gotten 17 rebounds in the two exhibition games.
Shaquetta Rhodes (6-2, Sr., Tuscumbia, Ala.) started all 31 games last year at center, averaging 6.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
K'Shaki Short (5-6, Jr., Birmingham, Ala.) has taken over the point guard position. She sat out last year after transferring from UNC-Asheville. Freshman Chantell Thomas (5-10, Kissimmee, Fla.) will probably get the start at the two-guard position.
Drake has two All-MVC performers among their returning starters. Center Carla Bennett, averaged 16.9 points and 9.1 rebounds a contest. She will challenge the Lady Blazers big front. Senior guard Stephanie Schmitz averaged 12.7 points and 5.2 rebounds a game.
This is the first of four in-season tournaments for the Lady Blazers.
