The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Mississippi State
Women's Basketball Falls At Mississippi State, 87-46
1/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2009
Final Stats | Box Score in PDF Form 
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Alexis Rack scored 19 points and dished out 10 assists to lead five players in double figures for the Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs as they topped the UAB women's basketball team, 87-46, Friday evening at the Humphrey Coliseum. Senior guard Britney Jones was the Blazers' top scorer with 15 points in UAB's final non-conference game of the season.
UAB moved to 5-8 overall as it prepares to open Conference USA play on Sunday at Memphis. Mississippi State, which was receiving votes in the latest USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches' Poll, improved to 12-1 on the year.
"We started the game okay, but things went downhill from there," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "Mississippi State is so hard to defend and we gave up way too many points in transition tonight. On the offensive side, they were forcing us to take tough, contested shots and we just couldn't get anything going."
UAB shot 28.6 percent overall for the game, including 23.5 percent in the first half and 36.4 percent in the second half. The Blazers hit 38.8 percent (7-of-19) from beyond the arc and went 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) from the charity stripe.
Jones' 15 points came on 5-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Jones also added three rebounds and two steals on the night. Sophomore guard Amanda Peterson chipped in nine points, four rebounds and two steals for the Blazers.
Junior forward Tamika Dukes paced UAB on the boards with six, while also adding three points, one assist and one block. Sophomore guard Kara Johnson led the Blazers in steals with three and also added two points.
Mississippi State had the hot hand, hitting 56.7 percent of its shots overall. The Lady Bulldogs knocked down 7-of-14 (50.0 percent) from beyond the arc and went 12-of-20 (60.0 percent) from the free throw line.
Rack hit five three-point buckets to lead her to a game-high 19 points for Mississippi State. Rack added 10 assists for the first double-double of her career.
Robin Porter went 6-of-9 for 14 points, while Armelie Lumanu was 6-of-13 for 12 points added to Mississippi State's total. Chanel Mokango and Diamber Johnson rounded out the Lady Bulldogs' double-digit scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
UAB will be back in action on Sunday when it plays at Memphis to open its Conference USA schedule. The Blazers and the Tigers will tip-off at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be televised live on CSS.
