The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Miami
Women's Basketball Falls to Miami, 68-52
11/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2010
MIAMI -- UAB sophomore guard Jala Harris scored 23 points against Miami, but it was not enough as the Blazers fell to the Hurricanes, 68-52, Monday evening at the BankUnited Center. Harris has now reached double figures in the first four games this season, cracking the 20-point mark in each of the last two contests.
"I felt like we battled throughout the game and there were some good things we can take from this game in terms of the areas we need to work on," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "It was good to see that we out-rebounded them, we just didn't capatlize on the offensive rebounds. We also needed to take care of the ball a lot better because they're a strong athletic team and they scored on our turnovers."
While the Blazers (2-2) out-rebounded the Hurricanes, 39-36, it was points off turnovers that proved to be the difference in the game. Although the Blazers had just four more turnovers than the Hurricanes (20-16), Miami scored 32 points off turnovers compared to UAB's 12. The Canes also went 18-of-24 from the stripe while UAB was just 2-of-8.
After trailing 13 at halftime, the Blazers quickly cut the Hurricanes' lead to four with a 9-2 run early in the second half. Miami responded with a 12-0 run to stretch the lead back to 16 with 8:35 left in the game. That was as close as UAB would get, as Miami built its lead to as many as 19 before claiming the 16-point victory.
"The second half was a big push for us," Smith said. "Coming in at halftime down 13, we talked about how the game was still within our reach, but we needed to keep battling, especially on the defensive end. So coming out in the second half they did a good job of buckling down defensively and getting some stops so we could run our offense."
The Hurricanes (3-1) had a trio of players reach double figures, led by Riquna Williams' 23 points. Williams also had four assists and three steals in the contest. Shenise Johnson scored 18 points and Morgan Stroman chipped in 12.
UAB returns to the hardwood this weekend at the Samford Thanksgiving Classic. The Blazers will take on USF Friday at 4 p.m. and Alabama State Saturday at 1 p.m. Both games will be held at Samford's Pete Hanna Center.
