The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Western Kentucky
Women's Basketball Falls Short At WKU, 59-51
2/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats | Box Score 
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The UAB women's basketball team cut a 15-point deficit down to five with just under three minutes remaining, but could not complete the comeback as WKU held on for a 59-51 win on Thursday night.
"They do a tremendous job of changing up their defenses and make it hard to get into a rhythm," head coach Randy Norton said. "It opened up shots for us, unfortunately we just didn't make any shots tonight. I thought our kids played hard right down to the end. Obviously Western Kentucky has a great team. They are balanced, veterans. To me they are a top-20 team in the country."
UAB (14-11, 8-6 C-USA) held WKU (22-4, 11-2 C-USA) to its lowest score of the season on just 36.7 percent shooting. Despite shooting 29.0 percent in the first half, the Blazers picked up the offensive intensity in the second half hitting 52.6 percent to finish 38.0 on the night.
Junior Chelsee Black led the team with 14 points, while seniors Janae Smith and Miranda Burroughs each added nine points. Four different players finished in double figures for WKU.
The Blazers won the battle on the boards with 44 rebounds to 31 for WKU. Smith led with 13 boards and junior Kayla Anderson added six.
Down early, 12-5, after a quick start by WKU, UAB hit back-to-back 3-pointers by Black and Burroughs to pull within one, 12-11. Anderson hit a jumper then freshman Whytney Singleton followed with a 3-pointer to give UAB its first lead of the game, 16-14, with 11:50 on the clock.
The Lady Toppers went back ahead after a three from Alexis Govan, which sparked a 7-0 run for WKU to lead the Blazers, 23-18 at the 8:48 mark. Singleton nailed her second 3-pointer to cut the lead back to three, but WKU would respond to hold on to the lead, 31-24, with 4:43 remaining in the half.
Smith hit her first basket to make it 31-26 before both teams suffered a three-minute scoring drought to close out the half. The Blazers hit five of their nine shots in the first half from beyond the arc.
After WKU scored the first five points in the second half, UAB responded with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 36-32. The Blazers held them scoreless for almost four minutes, until a scoring drought for UAB led to an 11-0 run by the Lady Toppers to put UAB down, 47-32, with 11:01 remaining on the clock.
UAB cut it back down to 10 after a 3-point play from sophomore Janeka Williams. Freshman T'erra Lewis and Anderson hit two-straight layups to extend the Blazers' run to 9-2 and pull within eight points, 49-41, with 9:04 to play.
Black and Burroughs would combine for two 3-pointers again as UAB saw a 15-point deficit cut to five, 54-49, with just under three minutes remaining. That would be as close as the Blazers would get as WKU held on for the 59-51 win.
UAB will remain on the road as it travels to Huntington, W. Va. to take on Marshall on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For women's basketball news, follow @UAB_WBB.
