The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UTSA
Blazers Halt Roadrunners With Strong Inside Game
1/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Box Score 
By Steve Irvine, UABsports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Patiently waiting on his team reaching its potential is not the most accurate way to describe the way UAB women's basketball coach Randy Norton maneuvered through this season. But has consistently preached to his team that success is coming.
"I told this team since the beginning that I think we can have a special team," Norton said. "It's not how you start, it's how you finish out the year. I just feel like our best basketball is ahead of us."
The Blazers played some pretty good basketball on Saturday afternoon, taking control over UTSA early in the first half and holding firmly to the lead the rest of the in a 73-57 victory over the Roadrunners at Bartow Arena.
The format for Saturday's win was pretty clear cut. Pound the ball inside to Janae Smith, Brittany Winborne and Kayla Anderson, get some timely shooting from outside and play a whole bunch of solid defense. It also included weathering a rough patch in the second half because of the Roadrunners' full-court pressure.
Where it all definitely began, though, was inside. As usual, Smith was the first option. The 6-foot-2 senior had a game-high 25 points, on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line, and added 11 rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals. But, perhaps the biggest key was the play of Winborne, a 6-foot junior, who had 12 of her season-high 14 points in the first half and also added nine rebounds, two blocked shots and an assist.
"It felt great," Winborne said. "Coach Norton always tells me to be ready to get in if Kayla is in foul trouble. I just got in and did what I had to do for my team and the coaches."
Anderson got in foul trouble but managed to score seven points in 15 minutes. Smith said Winborne's performance off the bench was huge.
"Now they can't double," Smith said. "You get the ball to her the way she's going tonight - scoring points - and then get it to me and I can go to work. We feed off each other - the high-low game is there, both blocks are there, it's fun to play."
UAB (11-9 overall, 5-4 C-USA) softened things up inside by hitting 6-of-9 3-pointers, including two by Janeka Williams early in the game.
The Blazers built a 41-25 lead at halftime and stretched the advantage to 20 points early in the second half. But things unraveled a little bit because of the UTSA defensive pressure. The Roadrunners (9-12, 4-5) outscored the Blazers, 17-3, over a 5:30 span and pulled within 54-49 with 9:10 remaining.
"They've got some great athletes," Norton said of UTSA, which beat C-USA co-leader Western Kentucky, earlier this season. "I think we just had to adjust to the pressure a little bit. Once we did that, then we were able to close the game."
UAB regained control on a 9-0 run that featured six points by Smith and a 3-pointer by Miranda Burroughs.
"We just told ourselves to settle down, first and foremost, and then get the ball inside," Smith said. "It was working. We just kept going inside."
The Blazers were never threatened afterward and managed their fourth win in the past five games. UAB and UTSA were tied for eighth place in the C-USA standings coming into Saturday but each was only one game out of a third place logjam. Norton understands that each win will keep the Blazers moving upward in the jumbled standings.
"We don't want to have any regrets, we want to leave everything on the court," Norton said. "We're just really focused on playing to the best of our ability and whatever happens after that happens. If we get beat by a better team that day, we'll deal with it, but we're going to make sure we don't beat ourselves."
UAB will be back on the road this week as it travels to Louisiana Tech on Thursday and Southern Miss on Saturday.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For women's basketball news, follow @UAB_WBB.
