The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulane
UAB Women's Basketball Beats Tulane, 80-74
2/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2004
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB women's basketball team outscored Tulane, 25-4, over a 10-minute span in the first half, en route to a 80-74 victory over the Green Wave here Friday evening. The win snaps a seven-game losing streak for the Lady Blazers.
After being down by as many has 25 points in the second half, Tulane fought back to cut UAB's lead to nine, 69-60, with only 1:56 left to play, but the Lady Blazers would not give up the lead and preserved the win.
"I think that we were able to jump out to such an early lead because our press was putting a lot of pressure on them and they weren't able to handle it at first," said UAB head coach Jeannie Milling. "We were able to get out and get ahead of them, but after halftime they made some adjustments and we weren't able to get in front of them. Finally, we had to go to our man-to-man defense and it was a good thing that we had the lead that we did because we didn't play our best at the end of the game. We did what we had to do and it was a great win for us."
In the first half, UAB (8-17, 2-10) tallied 44 points on 43.6 percent shooting. The Lady Blazers also went an impressive 6-of-13 from beyond the arc. UAB's defense forced Tulane into 14 turnovers and had eight steals in the first 20 minutes of action.
Senior Natasha Thomas had game-highs of 27 points and 11 rebounds. With those totals, Thomas moved into sixth on UAB's all-time scoring list with 1,660 points and third all-time in rebounds with 987. She hit 10-of-18 attempts, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
"Natasha Thomas is just a real dominant player for us," said Milling. "She's a very confident player. She wants the ball and she wants the opportunity to shoot. She's a scorer and I think that the other players feed off of her. She did a great job for us tonight and we needed her scoring and her rebounding."
The Lady Blazers had three other players score in double-digits. Freshman Crystal McFadden tallied 12 points and six defensive rebounds, while senior Vanessa White recorded 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point land. Freshman Domaneice Moore had a career-high 11 points in 24 minutes of action.
"I'm really excited about the fact that we committed fewer turnovers tonight," Milling said. "I think that it allows us to play our style of defense and our three-point shooting was much better than it has been. I think that we got a little bit better tonight. We started four freshmen and we still have a long way to go, but we are still in the hunt for the conference tournament. If we can win these next two games, then I think that we can make the tournament."
Tulane (9-16, 2-10) was led by D'Aundra Henry's 18 points and four assists. After shooting just 26.1 percent in the first half, the Green Wave changed its way and hit 60.7 percent of its shots in the final 20 minutes of play. Tulane had three others score in double-digits, as Lakethia Hampton tallied 17, Jami Montagnino added 13 and Kelly Nadeau recorded 11 in the contest.
However, UAB's defense was too much for Tulane as they were forced into 21 turnovers and were picked 13 times. The Lady Blazers also outrebounded Tulane, 42-37, and only allowed the Green Wave 12 offensive boards in the contest.
UAB remains in Bartow Arena for its final two regular-season games. The Lady Blazers will host Southern Miss on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m., before facing USF on Friday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m., in the regular-season finale.
