The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Women's Hoops Loses Heartbreaker At Southern Miss
2/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2012
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The UAB women's basketball team suffered a dramatic, 55-53 loss Sunday at Southern Miss. Karisma Chapman scored 18 points for the Blazers, but the Lady Eagles escaped with a putback in the closing seconds from an unlikely hero.
Ewa Urbanowska had not set foot on the floor all day nor attempted a free throw all season, but Southern Miss chose her to shoot free throws with the game tied and 4.6 seconds showing on the clock. Nitesha Pierce had drawn a foul while falling to the floor in the lane but was injured on the play and had to leave the game.
Urbanowska stepped in to take her place at the stripe. She missed both foul shots, but Niesha Pierce corralled the rebound for Southern Miss and threw up a contested jumper from 15 feet that completely cleared the rim. Urbanowska was alone on the other side, where she rebounded the miss and put it in with 1.6 seconds left to win the game.
It was just the sixth field goal of the year for Urbanowska, but it handed UAB (18-9, 9-6 C-USA) its fourth defeat in the past five games. With one regular-season contest remaining, UAB is now tied for third in the Conference USA standings with Rice, which handed league-leading UTEP its first loss Sunday.
The Blazers host the Miners on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT in their regular-season finale, while Rice hosts second-place Memphis. Tulane is one game behind at 8-7 in conference play and hosts last-place Houston on Thursday.
"Today was just a tough loss," UAB head coach Audra Smith said. "I felt like we fought all day and played hard. We just have to be able to put teams away when we get a double-digit lead. But Southern Miss is a hot team, they're playing with a lot of confidence right now, and they were able to come back and get us on their home floor."
Amber Jones added 14 points for UAB, including 10 in the first half as the Blazers built a 27-16 lead at the break. UAB connected on 4 of 9 attempts from 3-point range in the first half but managed just 1 for 6 from deep in the second.
UAB controlled the game's opening half with its defense as the Blazers limited Southern Miss (12-16, 6-9 C-USA) to 29 percent shooting and turned 12 Lady Eagle turnovers into 14 points on the other end. For the game, UAB out-scored Southern Miss, 22-6, in points off turnovers.
The Blazers contained Southern Miss point guard Jamierra Faulkner to five points in the first half, but Conference USA's third-leading scorer got off for 18 in the second half. She hit a pair of key 3-pointers and was able to get into the lane and draw contact, earning nine free throws in the second half and making eight of them.
Faulkner led the Lady Eagle comeback as they tied the game for the first time in the second half at 32-32. It was back-and-forth from there with neither team leading by more than four points.
A pair of Faulkner free throws tied the game again with 38 seconds to play. On the ensuing possession, Chapman tried to snake through the lane but was called for an offensive foul, giving Southern Miss the ball for the game-winning possession.
Faulkner finished with a game-high 23 points, while Ance Celmina added nine. Tanecka Carey came into the game averaging 15.7 points, but UAB held her scoreless.
Southern Miss held a 41-24 rebounding advantage in the game, including a 15-8 edge on the offensive glass.
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