The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers, Golden Hurricane Meet Thursday In Tulsa
1/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2012
Game Notes 
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB women's basketball team looks to get back on track Thursday when it visits
The Blazers (13-5, 4-2 C-
UAB junior guard Amber Jones, who leads the Blazers with 14.1 points per game, enters Thursday's contest needing just three points to reach 1,000 for her career.
Game Information
UAB at
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Series Information
• UAB is 8-1 all-time against
• The Blazers are a perfect 4-0 in four previous trips to
• UAB won last year's meeting by a 59-36 score in
About the Blazers
UAB finds itself looking to bounce back from back-to-back losses for the first time this season after dropping a 70-59 decision at home to
The trio of Amber Jones (14.1 ppg), Karisma Chapman (13.7 ppg) and LaShaunda Pratt (11.7) continues to provide the scoring punch for UAB.
The Blazers' defense has been responsible for their success. The third-ranked scoring defense in the country at 48.7 points per game, UAB is forcing opponents into more than 20 turnovers on average. The team has out-rebounded its opponents for the season but has faced a -18.5 rebounding margin in its two recent losses.
Scouting
Taleya Mayberry (14.8 ppg) and Taylor Hooker (11.2 ppg) lead
Getting Started
• UAB is coming of back-to-back losses to Tulane and
• Despite the two losses, the Blazers' 4-2 conference record places them in a tie for third in the league standings with UCF, behind only UTEP (6-1) and
• The Blazers got off to a 4-0 start in Conference
• Dating back to last season, UAB has won 17 of its past 22 games and 24 of its past 33 contests.
• Amber Jones needs just three points to reach 1,000 for her career. The junior guard, who surpassed 900 points Dec. 30 at Clemson, scored 20 against
• UAB is the top team in Conference
• Over its past four games, UAB has logged a combined 58 steals (14.5 per game), turning the ball over just 56 times (14.0 per game) while forcing a total of 91 turnovers (22.8 per game).
• The Blazers have held an opponent to fewer than 40 points in a game 12 times in program history, and four of those instances -- more than any other season -- have occurred through just 18 games this year.
• UAB held Rice to 11 first-half points in the Jan. 5 victory over the Owls, matching the fewest points ever surrendered by the Blazers in one half.
• UAB's trio of junior guard Amber Jones (14.1 ppg), sophomore forward Karisma Chapman (13.7 ppg) and senior guard LaShaunda Pratt (11.7 ppg) have accounted for 67.7 percent of the Blazers' scoring with 697 of the team's 1,029 points on the year.
• The Blazers placed four scorers in double figures Jan. 15 at
• UAB put an eight-game winning streak together from Nov. 25-Dec. 30. It was UAB's longest winning streak in 17 years and just the sixth streak of at least eight games in program history. UAB held opponents to an average of 41.4 points and 31.4 percent shooting during the streak.
Second-Best Start
UAB has dropped its past two games to fall to 13-5, but its 13-3 record through 16 games was the second-best in program history and the best in 17 years. The 1981-82 Blazer team had the best start ever at 14-2. This year's team matched the second-best start for a UAB team, tying the 1979-80, 1991-92 and 1994-95 teams with its 13-3 mark.
The Blazers also matched their best-ever Conference
Dominating Defense
Coming off one of the best defensive seasons in Conference
UAB has held 12 of its 18 opponents to 47 points or fewer and kept four -- Western Kentucky, Hampton, Clemson and
Historic Numbers
UAB is on pace to break its own Conference
This year, UAB is allowing only 48.7 points per game (third in the nation), and the Blazers have allowed their six conference opponents an average of 50.5 points per contest.
Jones Three Away From 1,000
With 20 points Sunday against
Jones surpassed 900 points in the Blazers' Dec. 30 win at Clemson. She is seeking to become the 25th 1,000-point scorer in program history and the 13th to accomplish the feat before her senior season.
Former Blazer Amanda Peterson was the most recent UAB player to reach 1,000 points, surpassing the mark last season in her senior campaign.
Out-Rebounded
One of UAB's biggest problems over its past two losses has been a disparity on the boards. The Blazers were out-rebounded by an average of 18.5 boards per game in last week's defeats.
Tulane grabbed 39 rebounds to UAB's 18 in last Thursday's game in New Orleans, and Memphis followed by out-rebounding the Blazers by a 45-29 margin on Sunday.
Through its first 16 games, UAB was out-rebounding its opponents by an average of 3.0 per game, but that has dropped to just 0.6 after the past two games.
SWAT Team
UAB set a single-game school record with 12 blocked shots in the Jan. 12 win over UCF. The Blazers topped the previous best mark of 11, set in last season's home victory over
Meagan Brown had four of those blocks, including the record breaker with 1:50 to play. Karisma Chapman and LaShaunda Pratt had three each, while Michaelea Kleist and TaRonda Randall added one apiece.
Block Party
The top shot-blocking team in Conference
Three Blazers this season are averaging more than one block per game, led by Meagan Brown at 1.4. Michaelea Kleist and TaRonda Randall each check in at 1.3 per game.
Jones Picks Up Where She Left Off
Junior guard Amber Jones continues to be one of the top scoring threats for UAB, leading the team with an average of 14.1 points per game. She has led UAB in scoring nine times, including Dec. 6 at UNCG when she erupted for a career-high 25 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Jones is the leading returning scorer for UAB after averaging 12.5 points per game last year as a sophomore. She 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 and 17.5 over the final six.
Jones Draining 3's At High Rate
Amber Jones has shown vast improvement from 3-point range this season. She entered her junior year with 72 treys over her first two seasons but was just a 27.7 percent shooter from beyond the arc for her career.
This season, Jones' 3-point percentage has jumped all the way to 36.4 (24-for-66), which ranks seventh in Conference
Doing Damage From Downtown
UAB averages 5.7 3-pointers per game as a team to rank first in Conference
Last season, UAB topped C-USA in 3-pointers per game, as well. The Blazers averaged a league-leading 6.2 treys per contest, knocking down 216 for the season, the second-most in UAB history and just three shy of the 2006-07 school-record total of 219.
Graduated guard Amanda Peterson set a school and C-USA record with 103 treys a year ago.
Pratt From
Coming into the season, Pratt had never made more than three 3-pointers in a game. Through 18 games this year, she has already surpassed that twice.
Pratt hit five treys on her way to a career-best 24 points earlier this season at
Frosh Sensation Now Super Soph
Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman is continuing to develop after a 2010-11 season in which she was a C-USA All-Freshman Team selection. Chapman is averaging 13.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. She logged her third career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds at UNCG.
Last year, Chapman finished 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 in her rookie campaign.
New Mark For Defense In A Half
UAB matched the program record for fewest points allowed in a half Jan. 5 against Rice, limiting the Owls to just 11 points over the opening 20 minutes.
The Blazers also surrendered only 11 points in a half against
Kleist's Contributions
Junior forward Michaelea Kleist, who came off the bench for the first three games, has now started 15 contests in a row.
Kleist, a transfer from Volunteer State CC, has proven to be a defensive presence and one of the team's top rebounders. She ranks second on the team in blocks with 1.3 per game and second in rebounds with 5.4 per outing. Kleist's five blocked shots against UNCG (12/6) are the most by a UAB player this season.
Brown's Blocks
Meagan Brown reached a milestone with her 100th career blocked shot Sunday against
Taking Care Of The Basketball
UAB has been among the nation's best at taking care of the basketball. The Blazers were in the top 10 in the nation in fewest turnovers per game early this season but have dropped to No. 27 (14.6 per game). They lead C-USA in fewest giveaways this year.
UAB recorded 10 or fewer turnovers four times in its first six games of the season, including just six in the season opener against
The six turnovers against Chattanooga were the second-fewest by a UAB team in head coach Audra Smith's eight-year tenure at the school and the fewest turnovers for the Blazers since they gave the ball away just five times against Tulsa on Feb. 12, 2009.
Forcing Turnovers
UAB has created 100 more turnovers than its opponents (362-262) this year. Last year, the team forced 115 more turnovers than they committed (644-529).
After forcing double-digit turnovers in all 35 games last season, UAB has caused at least 10 turnovers in every game this year, including 28 against
The Blazers have currently forced their opponents into double-digit turnovers in 141 straight games. The last time a UAB opponent turned the ball over fewer than 10 times was
