The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Rice
Blazers Top Rice 60-45 To Open League Play
1/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman scored 20 points Thursday night to lead the UAB women's basketball team to a 60-45 victory over Rice in its Conference USA opener at Bartow Arena.
The Blazers (10-3, 1-0 C-USA) forced 24 Rice turnovers and held the Owls (6-8, 0-1 C-USA) to 31.5 percent shooting for the night.
On the other end of the floor, UAB turned in one of its better offensive performances of the season. The top 3-point shooting team in C-USA, the Blazers knocked down just three treys on Thursday but worked the ball into the lane, connecting on 55.5 percent inside the arc on their way to 43.5 shooting for the night.
Junior forward Michaelea Kleist added 10 points, the best of her UAB career, on 5-of-7 shooting as the Blazers bounced back from Monday's loss at Florida A&M that snapped their eight-game winning streak.
"I'm proud of the way Michaelea stepped up and knocked down shots," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "We're trying to get her to be more assertive offensively. She can shoot the ball, she's great at the high post, and she can get to the basket."
UAB's defense was especially dominant over the opening 20 minutes of the game as the Blazers held Rice to 13 percent from the floor. UAB forced Rice into 15 first-half turnovers and held the Owls without a basket for a stretch of more than 11 minutes.
The Blazers held a 28-11 advantage at the break and opened their lead up to as much as 29 in the second half. Rice was stuck on 20 points for the game with less than eight minutes to play before closing with a spurt to reach 45 points and cut UAB's final margin to 15.
"We got off to a great start," Smith said. "We were doing a good job offensively in terms of our execution, a great job on defense being very alert and aware. But then we settled. When we get up 29 on a team like that, you have to put them under the floor. Teams aren't going to back down. They're going to keep fighting, and that's what happened."
Christal Porter led Rice with 10 points on the night, while Rice's Jessica Kuster collected a game-high nine rebounds to go with nine points. Kuster entered the game as the only C-USA player averaging a double-double.
For UAB, Chapman reached the 20-point mark for the second consecutive game and the third time in the past six contests. She hit eight of her 14 shots for the second game in a row.
UAB continues conference play this weekend with a trip to East Carolina. The Blazers and Pirates are scheduled for a 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT) tipoff on Sunday in Greenville, N.C.
