The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Tangles With ECU Sunday In Greenville
1/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2012
Game Notes 
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The Blazers (10-3, 1-0 C-USA) and Pirates (6-8, 0-1 C-USA) each opened league play on Thursday with UAB posting a 60-45 home win over Rice and East Carolina suffering a 59-53 road loss at UCF.
Game Information
UAB at
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Series Information
• UAB trails 13-7 in the all-time series with East Carolina with 19 of the previous 20 meetings coming since the Pirates joined Conference
• The Blazers are 3-5 all-time in
• Overall, ECU has won eight of the past nine meetings with UAB's lone win during that stretch by a 65-57 score in
• ECU won both meetings last year, posting a 71-64 victory in
About the Blazers
UAB hits the road in conference play for the first time with Sunday's contest at
Junior forward Amber Jones (14.7 points per game) and sophomore forward Karisma Chapman (14.6) pace the Blazers on the offensive end. Chapman has upped her average to 16.8 over the past five games.
Defensively, the Blazers have allowed more than 47 points just three times all season and only once in the past 10 games. UAB is ahead of school-record pace with an average of 5.1 blocks per game and is forcing more than 19 turnovers per game, holding an edge of nearly plus-five in the turnover battle on average.
Scouting
Shala Hodges (11.9 points per game) and Chareya Smith (10.6) pace a balanced offensive attack for ECU, which is averaging 61.0 points per game. Britny Edwards tops the Pirates in rebounding with 8.0 boards per outing.
Defensively,
Getting Started
• UAB and
• Sophomore forward Karisma Chapman, who has 44 points over the past two games, reached 20 points against both Florida A&M and Rice and has reached the mark three times in the past five games.
• UAB held Rice to 11 first-half points in Thursday's victory over the Owls, matching the fewest points ever surrendered by the Blazers in one half.
• Junior guard Amber Jones is closing in on the 1,000-point mark for her career. She surpassed 900 points Dec. 30 at Clemson and now sits at 933.
• At 10-3, the Blazers have matched the third-best start through 13 games in program history. Only the 1981-82 team (12-1) and the 1994-95 squad (11-2) started better.
• Dating back to last season, UAB has won 14 of its past 17 games and 21 of its past 28 contests.
• Before UAB's Thursday victory over Rice, the Blazers had an eight-game winning streak snapped last Monday at Florida A&M. It was UAB's longest winning streak in 17 years and just the sixth streak of at least eight games in program history.
• During its eight-game winning streak, UAB held opponents to an average of 41.4 points and 31.4 percent shooting. Not one of the eight opponents scored more than 47 points or made more than 38 percent of its shots.
• UAB is the top team in Conference
• UAB's trio of junior guard Amber Jones (14.7 ppg), sophomore forward Karisma Chapman (14.6 ppg) and senior guard LaShaunda Pratt (10.7 ppg) have accounted for 66.7 percent of the Blazers' scoring with 505 of the team's 757 points on the year.
• Karisma Chapman scored 24 points and Amber Jones had 23 in last Monday's loss to Florida A&M. It was the first time two UAB players scored at least 20 points in a game since March 9, 2010 against SMU in the C-USA tournament when Jones scored 23 points and Tamika Dukes had 21.
• The Blazers lead Conference
Fast Start
With a 10-3 record so far, UAB is off to one of its best starts in program history. Only twice has a UAB team posted a better record through 13 games than the current Blazer squad.
The 1981-82 Blazer team opened with a 12-1 record, while the 1994-95 UAB squad won 11 of its first 13 games. This year's team has matched the third-best start in program history, tying the 1979-80, 1991-92 and 2000-01 teams with its 10-3 mark.
New Mark For Defense In A Half
UAB matched the program record for fewest points allowed in a half Thursday against Rice, limiting the Owls to just 11 points over the opening 20 minutes.
The Blazers also surrendered only 11 points in a game against
Chasing 1,000
With 17 points in the Dec. 30 win at Clemson, junior guard Amber Jones surpassed the 900-point mark for her career.
Jones has added 30 more points over the past two contests and now has 933 points, closing in on the 1,000-point milestone. She is seeking to be the 25th 1,000-point scorer in program history and the 13th to accomplish the feat before her senior season.
Eight-Game Streak In The Books
UAB had an eight-game winning streak snapped Monday at Florida A&M. It was the Blazers' first loss since an overtime defeat Nov. 19 against
1. 14 games (Jan 15-March 12, 1994)
2. 9 games (Feb. 6-March 13, 1992)
9 games (Feb. 5-March 8, 1991)
9 games (March 15, 1981-Jan. 2, 1982)*
5. 8 games (Nov. 25-Dec. 30, 2011)
8 games (Nov. 18-Dec. 19, 1994)
*indicates streak that spanned two seasons
Dominating Defense
Coming off one of the best defensive seasons in Conference
The Blazers have surrendered just 47.5 points per contest and rank fifth in the nation in scoring defense in the latest NCAA statistics. UAB has held 10 of its 13 opponents to 47 points or fewer and kept three --
Last season, the Blazers' 55.3 points allowed per game set a school record and broke the Conference USA record by a full point. UAB's 56.1 points allowed in C-USA games also set a league record. The Blazers finished the season ranked 25th in the nation in scoring defense.
Thirty-Somethings
Only 11 times in school history has UAB held an opponent to fewer than 40 points, and three of those have happened this year. UAB kept Western Kentucky (36),
Date -- Opponent (Points) -- Result
11/24/96 --
3/9/95 --
12/30/11 -- Clemson (36) -- W, 51-36
11/26/11 --
2/10/11 --
1/4/94 -- UMBC (36) -- W, 48-36
12/19/11 --
1/22/81 -- FIU (38) -- W, 110-38
12/17/07 --
1/23/00 -- DePaul (39) -- W, 44-39
11/30/99 --
Doing Damage From Downtown
UAB averages 6.1 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 a total of 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 12 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
Jones Draining 3's At High Rate
Guard 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 40.8 (20-for-49), which ranks fourth in Conference
Kleist Coming On
Junior forward Michaelea Kleist, who came off the bench for the first three games, has now started 10 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. Over the past eight contests, she has averaged team-highs with 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while also contributing 6.4 points. Kleist's five blocked shots against UNCG (12/6) are the most by a UAB player this season.
Jones Picks Up Where She Left Off
So far this season, junior guard Amber Jones leads the Blazers with an average of 14.7 points per game. She has led UAB in scoring seven 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.
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 14.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. She has scored a career-high 24 points twice (Alabama A&M and Florida A&M) and 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.
Block Party
The Blazers finished just shy of the school record for blocked shots last season but have been even better in the blocks category this year. UAB's 3.3 blocked shots per game last year were the second-most in school history, but the Blazers have topped that so far this year, averaging 5.1 blocks over the first 13 games. The school record for blocks per game in a season is 3.4, set during the 1998-99 campaign. UAB is 1.7 blocks per game ahead of that school-record pace.
Three Blazers this season are averaging more than one block per game: Michaelea Kleist (1.5), TaRonda Randall (1.3) and Meagan Brown (1.1).
