The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Marshall
Blazers Defeated At Home By Marshall, 75-65
1/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----- The UAB women's basketball team trailed the entire game and was defeated, 75-65, by Marshall in Bartow Arena Sunday afternoon. The loss was the Blazers' second straight Conference USA defeat and dropped them to 7-6 on the season and 0-2 in league play.
Junior guard Carmen Guzman led all scorers with 26 points in the contest, a new career best. Guzman was 9-of-18 from the field and 5-of-7 at the charity stripe. Additionally, she led the Blazers with three steals.
UAB cut the Thundering Herd's lead to three, 53-50, on a three-point play by Guzman with 5:52 left to play, but Marshall (8-5, 3-0) made a charge at the end to seal the victory.
Marshall took control of the game from the beginning, holding the Blazers without a field goal for the first three and a half minutes of action. UAB struggled in the first 20 minutes of play, hitting only 7-of-26 from the field and went into the locker room down, 33-24.
"I felt like we fell behind early and that put us in a hole," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "The key with Marshall was that they are very athletic and they were able to match us. They switched from man to a zone on us and we just couldn't hit our shots in the first half. I felt we competed and played hard in the second half. We got back within three points but could not get over that hump.
"We hit some shots but could not get the stops on the other end. Also, we were able to go to the free throw line 30 times, but couldn't hit our free throws again. We've got to be able to knock those free throws down because that made the difference."
The Blazers' shooting improved in the second half, as they connected on 45.5 percent of their shots, going 15-of-33 from the field and hitting four three-pointers. UAB was able to take care of the ball, committing a season-low eight turnovers.
Free throws were a huge problem for the Blazers. UAB connected on only 15-of-29 from the charity stripe. The Blazers also missed the front-end of three one-and-one's in the game.
Marshall was led by Sikeetha Shepard-Hall's 22 points and four assists. Reshundra Smiley contributed 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Crystal Champion totaled 10 points and nine boards.
After an eight-game homestand, the Blazers head to Tulsa, Okla., to face the Golden Hurricane on Friday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.
