The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
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Florida International
UAB Tops FIU To Extend Home Win-Streak To Seven
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Steve Irvine, UABsports.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Focus on the scoring column and it looks like UAB's 72-56 victory over FIU in a Conference USA women's basketball regular season finale was a one-person show. Look a little closer, however, and you see that Janae Smith's career-high 36 points was far from the only reason that the Blazers closed out the regular season with an impressive win.
"Some stats that kind of stick out - 19 assists, that's really being unselfish, and nine turnovers and a lot of those came in last couple minutes," said UAB head coach Randy Norton, whose program honored Smith and Miranda Burroughs during Senior Day Festivities prior to the game.
In other words, it was a team effort on a day that the Blazers put themselves in position to possibly finish in a fourth-place tie in the C-USA standings. It was the third most assists in a game this season for the Blazers and the least amount of turnovers the Blazers had during C-USA play. Burroughs had a team-high six assists and eight of the 12 Blazer players to see action were credited with at least one assist.
"We're just a better team when everyone contributes," said Burroughs, who had a pair of 3-pointers to account for her six points. "It's good to have that one player who sticks out but it's a great feeling as a teammate to see other people contributing. What better time to do that than now?"
It certainly is a comforting feeling to get the ball down low to the 6-foot-2 Smith, a C-USA Player of the Year candidate playing in her lone season in a UAB uniform. Smith, an Illinois native playing in front of a large group of family members and friends, was sensational. She was 16-of-24 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line while adding five rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals. She made 10 of her first 12 shots after halftime and finished with 24 second half points.
"It just feels great," said Smith. "My teammates got me the ball, that's where it comes from. My teammates depend on me to come through. I'm just happy to go into the tournament like this. We're all on a roll. We're all feeling good. We need to go and get some wins."
UAB was on a roll heading into Saturday following a huge win at Middle Tennessee last Saturday and a narrow victory over FAU on Thursday. But Norton was still concerned against a FIU team that entered Saturday's game with a 0-17 record in C-USA play.
"As a coach, you try to motivate, you try to keep your kids locked in but it's hard when you're playing a team that really has nothing to play for and they know it's their last game," said Norton, whose team won 68-45 at FIU in January.
The Blazers led just 30-24 at halftime but began to pull away early in the second half. Junior Chelsee Black hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 13-5 spurt over the first five minutes of the second half and Smith took over a couple of minutes later. Smith scored 13 consecutive UAB points before Burroughs canned a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Blazers a 59-42 lead with 7:40 left. The Blazers were never threatened afterwards.
"We wanted to go out with a bang," said Burroughs, who left with a shiner under her left eye after getting hit with a first half elbow. "It's technically not really our last home game but it means something just because it's our last home game in regular season."
UAB will await the conclusion of the remainder of Conference USA games today to determine its seed for the 2015 Conference USA Tournament that will be held in Birmingham, Ala. March 11-14. The Blazers will host the first two rounds at Bartow Arena before moving to Legacy Arena at the BJCC for the semifinal and championship games.
For the latest news on Blazer sports, follow the UAB Athletics Twitter account: @UABathletics. For women's basketball news, follow @UAB_WBB.
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