The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Play A Pair Of Road Games At Houston, Rice
1/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2009
UAB vs. Houston: Watch | Gametracker
UAB vs. Rice: Watch | Gametracker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB women's basketball team will begin a string of four consecutive road games with a Friday evening contest at Houston, followed by a Sunday afternoon game at Rice. UAB and Houston are scheduled to tip off on Friday at 7 p.m. CT at the Hofheinz Pavilion. The Blazers will tangle with Rice at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday at the Tudor Fieldhouse.
Friday will mark the 18th meeting between UAB and Houston, with the Blazers holding a 9-8 advantage in the all-time series. Houston won the last meeting, 80-76, in overtime a season ago in Birmingham.
UAB enters the game with a 6-10 overall record, including a 1-2 mark in Conference USA. After winning their conference opener at Memphis on Jan. 4, the Blazers dropped a pair of home games last weekend to Southern Miss and UCF.
Senior guard Britney Jones leads UAB on the court with 16.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.2 steals per outing. Jones has scored in double figures in all but three games this season and has four 20-plus point efforts on the year.
Sophomore guard Amanda Peterson is adding 12.8 ppg to UAB's total and leads the Blazers in three-point shooting. Peterson has 44 treys this season, which leads Conference USA and ranks 18th in the nation. In addition, she is shooting 39.3 percent from beyond the arc, which is 56th in the country.
Houston comes into Friday with a 9-5 overall record and a 1-1 league mark. The Cougars won their conference opener at Tulane, 58-56, last Friday before falling at UTEP, 74-67, last Sunday.
Sophomore forward Courtney Taylor leads Houston in multiple categories, including points (17.1 ppg), rebounds (11.4 rpg), steals (2.1 spg) and blocks (1.7 bpg). Taylor ranks ninth in the country in rebounds and 52nd in points.
Sophomore guard Brittney Scott and freshman guard Roxana Button are also big offensive contributors for the Cougars, averaging 12.4 ppg and 10.5 ppg, respectively.
UAB and Rice will meet for just the third time on Sunday, with the Blazers having won both previous games. UAB earned a 76-64 win over the Owls a season ago in Birmingham in the last meeting between the two programs.
Rice has a 5-10 overall record and a 0-2 record in C-USA going into the weekend. The Owls dropped their first two league games on the road at UTEP and Tulane last weekend.
Freshman guard D'Frantz Smart is Rice's leading scorer with 14.4 ppg, while also adding team-best numbers in assists (4.8 apg) and steals (2.8 spg). Senior guard Maudess Fulton is also averaging double digit scoring with 10.1 ppg on the year.
Fans can follow both games live on Gametracker by logging on to www.uabsports.com.
