The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Women's Basketball Opens C-USA Action At Southern Miss
1/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2011
UAB-Southern Miss Game Notes | Gametracker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB women's basketball team opens Conference USA Play at Southern Miss Thursday. The Blazers and Lady Eagles tip off at 7 p.m. at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss leads the series, 32-16. UAB swept the series last season for the first time since 2001, winning in Hattiesburg, 49-46, and in Birmingham, 66-60. The Blazers are 5-19 in Hattiesburg and haven't won back-to-back meetings at Southern Miss since 2000 and 2001. UAB also is seeking its first three-game winning streak against the Lady Eagles since the Blazers won the meeting at the C-USA tournament in 2000 and both contests in 2001.
UAB (8-5) has been successful in C-USA openers under head coach Audra Smith. The Blazers are 5-1 in conference-opening games since she took the helm for the 2004-05 season. UAB has won its last four C-USA openers. Since joining C-USA in 1995, the Blazers are 8-7 in conference openers. Thursday's matchup marks the first time UAB will open C-USA play against Southern Miss.
The Blazers are coming off a 60-55 win over Austin Peay last Sunday. Senior guard Amanda Peterson scored her 1,000th career point in the contest and tied Gina Sutko (1987-91) for the school's career 3-point record with her 245th trey. Peterson scored a season-high 21 points in the contest. Freshman forward Karisma Chapman also delivered an impressive performance in the contest, grabbing 12 rebounds, the most by a Blazer this year, and collecting five steals.
The Lady Eagles bring a 5-8 record into the 49th meeting between UAB and Southern Miss. Southern Miss has lost five in a row, including an 83-61 decision to Louisiana Tech in the Lady Eagles' final non-conference contest on Sunday.
Southern Miss has a trio of players averaging double figures in Rachel Vigers (16.2 ppg), Tanesha Washington (13.2 ppg) and Jamierra Faulkner (11.1 ppg). Washington also leads the team with 8.6 rebounds per game.
