The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Women's Basketball Edged By Southern Miss, 44-39
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - It was a defensive battle that came down to the final seconds, but the UAB women's basketball team struggled to find the basket in the second half as Southern Miss edged the Blazers, 44-39. The loss halted a three-game win streak for UAB.
"I felt from the beginning we weren't really ready to play, but we hung in there and weathered the storm in the first half to go in with a nine-point lead," head coach Randy Norton said. "Then in the second half, we went 3-of-26 for 11 percent and you are just not going to beat a team as good as Southern Miss when you have that kind of night."
UAB (12-10, 6-5 C-USA) came in as one of the top defensive teams in Conference USA and held Southern Miss (15-7, 8-3 C-USA) to its lowest output of the season on just 29.3 percent shooting, but the Blazers finished just 29.5 percent after a 11.5 percentage in the second half.
Junior Chelsee Black led the team with 17 points after going 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half. Senior Janae Smith finished with nine points and freshman Whytney Singleton scored a career-high eight on the afternoon.
The big difference seemed to come inside, where Southern Miss picked up 46 rebounds, including 18 offensive boards, while UAB recorded 28 rebounds. Smith, Singleton and junior Kayla Anderson each finished with five. Smith also added three blocks against the Lady Eagles.
After Southern Miss opened the game with a 7-2 run, a 3-pointer from Black and a long jumper from Smith tied the game up at 7-7 at the 15:30 mark. The Lady Eagles remained in front until a 5-0 run for the Blazers that was capped off by a another three from Black to give UAB its first lead, 15-14, with 6:47 to play in the first half.
It was an onslaught of 3-pointers in the first half as six of UAB's 10 field goals came from behind the arc. Black then hit her third three of the opening period to put the Blazers back in front, 18-16. Southern Miss tied the game back up with a quick basket on the other end until Black made a jumper in the lane to score eight consecutive points to make it 20-18, UAB.
Singleton added a 3-pointer and Black hit another three at the buzzer to cap off a 9-2 run that sent the Blazers into halftime with a 31-22 lead. Black was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and 4-of-4 from the 3-point line to score 14 points in the opening period.
Southern Miss started the second half with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to, 31-28, with 15:15 left on the clock. Black continued to stay hot, hitting another 3-pointer to stop the run and keep the Blazers in front, 34-30. Staying strong from the outside, Singleton added a 3-pointer to reach a career-high eight points with 11:53 play as the Blazers led 37-30.
The offensive trouble began when UAB suffered a 10-minute scoring drought as Southern Miss used a 12-0 run to retake the lead, 42-37. The Blazers finally got a basket after Smith picked up a loose ball and put it in for a layup to cut the lead to three, 42-39. Then a turnover by Southern Miss gave UAB the ball with 29 seconds remaining, but UAB could not convert as the Lady Eagles took the win 44-39.
"Like I told our girls, we just have to move past this game and get ready for next week," Norton stated. "It is unfortunate we lost this one, but I felt like our girls battled. I thought they fought hard and competed. We just could not get the ball to go in the hole and they did a nice job of guarding us."
UAB will return home next week to host North Texas and Rice. The Blazers and Mean Green will met on Thursday with tipoff set for 7 p.m. UAB will host the Owls on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Bartow Arena. That game has been designated as the annual Pink Game.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For women's basketball news, follow @UAB_WBB.
