The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Marshall
UAB Women's Hoops Edged At Marshall, 58-57
2/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2011
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. -- The UAB women's basketball team led by one point with 29 seconds to play, but Marshall forward Tynikki Crook hit a jumper with five seconds remaining to give the Thundering Herd a 58-57 win over the Blazers on Thursday night at the Cam Henderson Center. UAB senior guard Amanda Peterson scored 23 points in the contest, hitting seven 3-pointers, one shy of her career-high.
UAB freshman forward Karisma Chapman netted 13 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Amber Jones added 11 points as the Blazers fell to 13-2 overall and 5-7 in Conference USA.
Crook led Marshall (7-18, 3-9 C-USA) with 17 points, including 11 in the second half, while forward Veronica Ruiz scored 13.
"We just gave that one away," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "Credit to Marshall because they wanted it more and played aggressively in the second half."
It was a seesaw affair into the final minutes, with three lead changes in the final 2:07. Marshall took a four-point lead with 1:39 remaining when Crook knocked down a layup, giving the Herd its largest lead of the game. Peterson responded for the Blazers with her seventh trey of the game to pull UAB within a point and Chapman knocked down a layup to put the Blazers back on top, 57-56.
Coming out of a timeout, Marshall ran the clock down before getting the ball inside to Crook. Crook nearly lost the handle but managed to regain control and knock down the short jumper to make it 58-57. Although UAB had four seconds to work with, Jones drove the ball down the court and her layup hit off the backboard as time expired.
The two were evenly matched throughout the contest, as UAB led by just three at halftime, 38-35. The Blazers finished the game shooting 46.7 percent from the field while the Herd hit at a 51.2 percent clip. UAB forced 15 turnovers while giving up the ball 11 times and collected 10 steals compared to Marshall's three. The Herd edged the Blazers in rebounding, 30-27.
UAB continues its two-game road swing at SMU on Sunday. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. from Dallas, Texas.
