The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Central Michigan
UAB Women's Basketball Falls At Central Michigan, 96-72
12/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 6, 2008
Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF)
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Angel Chan and Britni Houghton combined for 52 points for Central Michigan as the Chippewas defeated the UAB women's basketball team, 96-72, Saturday afternoon at Rose Arena. Junior Fatiha Salaam paced the Blazers with a career-high 23 points, including 12 from the free throw line.
Chan scored a game-high 28 points for the Chippewas, led by five buckets from three-point range. Houghton tallied 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
UAB moves to 2-6 on the year, while Central Michigan improved its record to 5-2.
"I felt like we came out flat today," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "We just never got anything going offensively and we struggled to stop them. We had way too many turnovers and Central Michigan capitalized on that."
UAB shot 37.9 percent overall for the game, hitting 42.2 percent in the first half and cooling off to 32.0 percent in the second half. The Blazers shot 16.7 percent from three-point range, sinking 2-of-12 from beyond the arc. UAB went to the free throw line 38 times, making 26 of its attempts (68.4 percent).
Salaam hit 5-of-9 from the field and 12-of-15 from the charity stripe for a career-best 23 points for the Blazers. Junior forward Tamika Dukes recorded the first double-double of her career with 12 points and a team-high 12 boards. Senior Britney Jones contributed 17 points to UAB's total.
Central Michigan sunk 43.8 percent of its shots on the day, including 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from beyond the arc and 67.6 percent (23-of-34) from the free throw line.
In addition to Chan's 28 points and Houghton's 24 points, Kaihla Szunko added 14 points and grabbed a team-best nine rebounds for the Chippewas. Skylar Miller also scored in double figures with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
The Blazers will be back in action on Dec. 15-16 when they host their annual Blazer Invitational tournament at Bartow Arena. UAB will take on Alabama State on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. CT in the opening round of the tournament.
