The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Women's Hoops Heads To UTC For Opener
11/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2011
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB women's basketball team opens its regular season on the road Friday at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) at Chattanooga in the first round of the Preseason WNIT.
The Blazers, coming off a 20-win season and the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) title, defeated UAH a week ago in their lone exhibition game. Chattanooga, the preseason pick to win the Southern Conference, is coming off a 17-14 season.
The winner of Friday's game will move on to meet the winner of a first-round game between top-ranked Baylor and Howard on Sunday. The loser will play consolation games next weekend.
GAME INFORMATION
UAB at Chattanooga (Preseason WNIT First Round)
Friday, Nov. 11 (7 p.m. ET)
McKenzie Arena (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
LIVE COVERAGE
Live stats and live video available at www.gomocs.com.
SERIES INFORMATION
• UAB trails Chattanooga 17-14 in the all-time series that dates back to the 1980-81 season.
• The Lady Mocs own an advantage of 9-5 in games played in Chattanooga.
• UAB is looking to snap a five-game win streak in the series for Chattanooga, dating back to 2002.
• The teams last met on Nov. 20, 2006 in Birmingham with Chattanooga claiming a 70-63 victory.
GETTING STARTED
• UAB played its lone exhibition game last Friday with junior guard Amber Jones posting a double-double (22 points, 10 assists) in an 81-61 win over the University of Alabama in Hunstsville (UAH).
• UAB returns nine letterwinners and five players with significant starting experience in 2011-12.
• The Blazers are coming off their first 20-win season since the 2000-01 campaign after posting a 20-15 record last year.
• UAB closed last season with four consecutive postseason wins (the first three on the road) to claim the 2012 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) title. The Blazers returned home to defeat Cal State Bakersfield in the tournament's championship game.
• Guard Amber Jones returns as the Blazers' top scorer after averaging 12.5 points per game, while UAB also brings back C-USA All-Freshman Team selection Karisma Chapman at forward.
THE PRESEASON WNIT
UAB will play in the Preseason WNIT for the second time ever and the first time since the 1999-2000 season. The Blazers went 1-1 in that year's event, falling to Nevada by a score of 79-63 in the opening round but rebounding for a 90-70 win over Idaho in their second game.
This year, UAB drew Friday's road game at Chattanooga for its opener in the event. The WNIT bracket features a total of 16 teams, including the nation's top-ranked Baylor Bears. The winner of the UAB-Chattanooga game will advance to Sunday to meet the winner of the first-round contest between the Bears and the Howard Bison. The loser will return to action in the consolation bracket the weekend of Nov. 18-20.
ABOUT THE BLAZERS
UAB is looking to build off the momentum of a four-game winning streak to close the 2011-12 season by winning the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI). The Blazers, which ended the regular season seventh in the Conference USA standings, finished 20-15 overall for their first 20-win season in a decade. The Blazers saw their first action of 2011-12 last Friday, defeating UAH by an 81-61 score in exhibition play.
Junior guard Amber Jones is back as the Blazers' top returning scorer after averaging 12.5 points per game a season ago, while sophomore forward Karisma Chapman returns after a Conference USA All-Freshman Team campaign. The Blazers also welcome back senior guard LaShaunda Pratt, who contributed 8.8 points per game a year ago, along with junior guard Khalilah Watson and senior center Meagan Brown, a pair that combined to make 66 starts last season. The Blazers return a total of five players with significant starting experience.
THE LAST TIME OUT
Amber Jones notched a double-double with 22 points and 10 assists last Friday night to lead the UAB women's basketball team to an 81-61 home victory over the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in exhibition action at Bartow Arena.
The Blazers converted 30 UAH turnovers into 40 points and out-scored the Chargers by 17 in the second half to pull away after UAH kept things close and trailed just 33-30 at the break.
UAB shot 52.3 percent from the floor, including 59.4 percent over the final 20 minutes. The Blazers also had 20 assists on their 34 made field goals.
UAB blocked 12 shots on the night, one more than the Blazers' single-game, regular-season record. Senior forward/center TaRonda Randall had five of those blocks by herself as the Blazers made it tough to score inside. UAH managed to make 11 of 18 attempts from 3-point range in the game, but the Blazers held the Chargers to 9-of-40 shooting from inside the arc.
SCOUTING THE LADY MOCS
Chattanooga returns all but two players and one starter from last year's team that went 17-14 and finished third in the Southern Conference at 13-7 in league play. The Lady Mocs were eliminated by Samford in the SoCon tournament seminfinals.
This year's Chattanooga team was picked to win the SoCon in the league's preseason poll. Post player Whitney Hood returns as the team's leader in scoring (18.8 ppg), rebounding (6.7 rpg) and field goal percentage (.525). Hood joins returning players Kayla Christopher and Tenisha Townsend as returning players who started all 31 games a year ago for Chattanooga. Christopher is the team's top outside threat and shot 41 percent from 3-point range last season.
now in her eighth season
UAB's Audra Smith enters her eighth season on the bench for the Blazers after guiding UAB to 20 wins a season ago. She has had great continuity on her staff from the beginning. Assistant coaches Kathy Becker and Daryl Oliver are each in their eighth seasons, as well, while assistant coach Marc Wilson is in his third year with the program. Director of basketball operations Laura Waldrop is in her sixth season on the staff.
WBI CHAMPIONS
UAB was selected to compete in the 2011 Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) and rattled off four consecutive postseason wins to claim the tournament title. The Blazers went on the road for the first three rounds, posting wins at Central Arkansas (58-54), at Elon (59-50) and at Manhattan (62-43) before returning home to defeat Cal State Bakersfield (68-60) in the tournament's championship game. Guard Amber Jones, who averaged 17.5 points over the four games, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
BLAZERS ADD PAIR OF JUCO TRANSFERS
UAB added a pair of newcomers this season from the junior college ranks. Guard Kelsie Weynand joins the Blazers after an all-region sophomore season at St. Petersburg (Fla.) College, where she averaged 13.4 points per game last year. She played her freshman season two years ago at Columbus State in Georgia. Forward Michaelea Kleist comes to UAB from Volunteer State (Tenn.) Community College, where she averaged 11.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last year. Kleist began her collgiate career at Eastern Kentucky in 2009-10.
JONES LOOKING FOR MORE
Amber Jones is the leading returning scorer for UAB after averaging 12.5 points per game last year as a sophomore. Jones developed into the Blazers' top scorer down the stretch in 2010-11, raising her average to 15.3 points per game over the final 13 contests. The guard was even more productive over the final six games, averaging 17.5 points and shooting 42 percent from the three-point line. She finished the season with 27 double-digit scoring performances and topped the Blazers in scoring in 13 games.
FROSH SENSATON NOW SOPH
The Blazers also welcome back 2010-11 C-USA All-Freshman Team selection Karisma Chapman. The forward didn't score 10 points in a game until late January last season but then closed the year with 10 double-digit scoring performances in the last 17 games. She averaged 10.8 points per game over that stretch and closed the year with an average of 8.0 points to go along with a pair of double-doubles.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
UAB is coming off one of the best defensive seasons in Conference USA history. In fact, the Blazers' 55.3 points allowed per game last season set a school record and broke the league record by a full point. UAB's 56.1 points allowed in Conference USA games also set a league record. The Blazers finished the season ranked 25th in the nation in scoring defense. UAB held its opponents to 50 points or fewer 13 times last season and won 12 of those contests. UAB also was 18-7 when holding its opponents to fewer than 60 points.
BLOCK PARTY
Another reason for UAB's defensive success was its ability to alter shots in the pant. The Blazers' averaged 3.3 blocked shots per game last season, the second-most in school history, and came up just shy of the school record of 3.4 set in the 1998-99 season. Meagan Brown set the Blazers' individual single-season record with 49 total blocks, while Karisma Chapman added 23. UAB posted a school-record 11 blocked shots against Tulsa on Feb. 10, 2011.
FORCING TURNOVERS
The Blazers forced their opponents into double-digit turnovers in all 35 games last season and have accomplished that feat in in 123 consecutive games entering the 2011-12 campaign. The last time a UAB opponent turned the ball over fewer than 10 times was Hartford (8) on Nov. 23, 2007. The 30 turnovers UAB forced against Marshall last season on Jan. 30 were the most in C-USA last year and the most by a UAB team since the 1994 season. The Blazers forced 115 more turnovers than they committed (644-529) in 2010-11.
100 WINS UNDER HER BELT
Head coach Audra Smith earned her 100th career victory with UAB's 62-43 win over Manhattan in the semifinals of the WBI last year on March 24. With the win, Smith joined Jeannie Milling as the only UAB women's basketball head coaches to reach the milestone. Milling spent 17 seasons at the helm of the Blazers and compiled a 265-230 record. Smith took over for Milling in 2004 and has spent her entire head coaching career (seven seasons) with the Blazers. She added another win in the WBI championship game and enters the 2011-12 season with 101 career victories.
REPLACING PETEY
The Blazers will have to find a way to replace the scoring and outside shooting of departed senior Amanda Peterson, who finished her career with 319 three-pointers, the most by any woman or man in UAB history. Peterson, who averaged 10.8 points per game last year, set a school and league record with 103 3-pointers in her senior campaign.
