The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Begins Final Road Stretch at UTEP
2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2010
UAB-UTEP Game Notes | Gametracker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB women's basketball team begins its final road stretch at UTEP on Thursday at 8:05 p.m. CST.
UAB leads the overall series against the Miners, 3-2, and is 2-2 against UTEP in C-USA contests. Both teams have protected their home court as neither has won a road game in the series. Although UAB is 0-2 when playing in El Paso, both losses came by just three points. UTEP defeated the Blazers, 67-64, in January of 2008 and, 72-69, in January of 2006. The Blazers won last year's meeting, 64-58, in Birmingham.
The Blazers (11-12, 5-6 C-USA) are coming off a 66-60 win over Southern Miss on Sunday. The win snapped a six-game skid for UAB and marked the first time since 2001 the Blazers completed the season sweep of the Lady Eagles.
Freshman guard Jala Harris continues to pace the Blazers with 17.5 point a game overall and 21.5 points in league games. Senior forward Tamika Dukes is the team's second-leading scorer at 12.3 points a game and tops the team in rebounds with a 7.0 average.
The Miners (14-11, 5-6 C-USA) have had a rollercoaster conference season thus far. UTEP is coming off back-to-back losses to Marshall (65-56) and East Carolina (64-54). Prior to that, the Miners won a pair over Tulsa and SMU. The difference for UTEP is the venue, as the Miners are 11-2 at home and 4-1 in league home games.
UTEP is led by Jareica Hughes with 12.3 points a game. Anete Steinberga is the team's second-leading scorer with 11.7 points a game, but she has only appeared in 10 contests. The only other player for the Miners averaging double-digits is Dietra Caldwell at 11.5 points a game.
