The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Rice
Blazers' Late Rally Falls Short Against Rice
1/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2011
HOUSTON -- The UAB women's basketball team made a furious rally to pull within three after trailing the Rice Owls by 13 in the closing minutes, but the Blazers came up short as Rice captured a 58-52 win on Sunday afternoon at Tudor Fieldhouse.
Freshman forward Karisma Chapman scored a career-high 12 points and led the Blazers with seven rebounds as UAB falls to 9-10 overall and 1-5 in Conference USA. Sophomore guard Amber Jones led UAB with 15 points while junior guard LaShaunda Pratt added 13.
Rice (11-9, 3-3 C-USA) had a trio of players reach double figures as well, led by guard D'Frantz Smart's 16. Forward Morgan Mayse finished the contest with 13 points and guard Jessica Goswitz scored 11. Forward Jessica Kuster grabbed a game-high 20 rebounds for the Owls.
The Blazers trailed by 13 with 1:18 to go before going on a 12-3 run that pulled UAB within three. Jones sparked the rally with back-to-back layups and Pratt made it three straight for the Blazers then added a free throw to cut the deficit to seven. Jones hit another layup with 28 seconds left and Chapman sank a 3-pointer to make it 55-52 with 23 seconds remaining. But with UAB forced to foul, the Owls hit three of four free throws down the stretch to seal the six-point win.
UAB will make it back-to-back C-USA road games when it travels to East Carolina to take on the Lady Pirates Thursday. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT.
