The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
East Tennessee State
Blazers Grind Out 59-47 Victory Over ETSU
11/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2011
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LAKE CHARLES, La. -- The UAB women's basketball team frustrated East Tennessee State with its defensive pressure Friday and picked up its perimeter shooting in the second half to pull away for a 59-47 victory at Burton Coliseum.
Junior guard Amber Jones led all scorers with 21 points as the Blazers (1-1) picked up their first victory in the Preseason WNIT consolation bracket.
UAB will close out its play in the tournament Saturday at Noon against host McNeese State, which defeated Manhattan in Friday's late game.
UAB's defensive effort forced East Tennessee State (0-2) into 28 turnovers Friday and held the Lady Bucs to 11-of-37 shooting (29.7 percent).
The Blazers didn't shoot a high percentage either (28.3 percent), but they managed to get 23 more shots than ETSU thanks to 17 offensive rebounds and the Lady Bucs turnovers.
"We have to get better at shooting the ball, but we know that defense is what we hang our hat on," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "We were able to hold East Tennessee State down until our offense came around enough for us to pull ahead a little bit. We've done a lot of things well early this season, and I'm confident our shooting will pick up as we move forward."
UAB committed just nine turnovers of its own in the game, the team's second straight single-digit turnover performance, against an ETSU team that had forced at least 10 turnovers in 302 straight games, the longest streak in the nation.
Through two games this season, UAB has forced 44 turnovers and committed just 15. The Blazers have also managed to get off 122 shots to 81 for their opponents.
After holding a 23-19 halftime advantage Friday, UAB extended its lead with good shooting from the outside. The Blazers connected on six of 11 second-half 3-pointers, including three in less than a minute and a half by junior guard Kelsie Weynand that opened the game up.
When Weynand knocked down her third trey with 8:24 to play, the Blazers had turned a 36-32 lead into a 45-32 advantage. From there, the Lady Bucs never got closer than nine points, while UAB opened up its biggest lead at 18 points on a free throw by Jones with 3:08 to play.
Senior guard LaShaunda Pratt, who connected on a pair of 3-pointers and did all of her scoring in the second half, gave UAB a second double-figure scorer with 12 points, while Weynand finished with nine.
A trio of East Tennessee State players -- Natalie Pickwell, Destiny Mitchell and Gwen Washington -- finished with nine points each to lead the Lady Bucs. ETSU did nearly half of its damage at the foul line, scoring 22 of its 47 points on free throws.
The 28 ETSU turnovers in the game were the most forced by a UAB team since the Blazers pressured Marshall into 30 giveaways last season on Jan. 30.
