The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Hosts Florida Atlantic in Regular Season Finale
3/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UAB Notes l FAU Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB women’s basketball team welcomes Florida Atlantic to the friendly confines of Bartow Arena on Saturday afternoon as it hosts the Owls in its regular-season finale. The Blazers and Owls are slated to tip at 2 p.m., with Senior Day festivities to set to begin following the contest.
UAB (14-14, 7-10 C-USA) used a dominant second quarter to breeze past the FIU Panthers, 71-42, at Bartow Arena on Thursday night. Senior forward Brittany Winborne recorded her 15th double-double of the season, as she chipped in 11 points while dominating the glass with 17 boards. Senior guard Chelsee Black paced the UAB offense with a game-best 18 points.
In UAB history, Black holds sole possession of 17th place on UAB’s all-time scoring list with 1,316 career points. Winborne revamped the Blazers’ record books Thursday as she totaled 308 rebounds this season, the seventh-most in UAB’s single-season history.
In the season, Black leads the Blazers’ offensive attack with 13.0 points per contest. Freshman guard Deanna Kuzmanic contributes 12.8 points a night, the most by a freshman in Conference USA. Winborne’s aggressive play on the boards earned her top ranks in the league in rebounds per contest (11.0), field goal percentage (.569), offensive boards per game (4.5) and defensive rebounds per night (6.5).
In the national ranks, Winborne secures the 14th-most boards per game, the seventh-most offensive rebounds per outing, and the 15th-most double-doubles in the NCAA.
Kuzmanic is at the top of her class. The Wheeling, Illinois, native drops 2.54 treys per night, the fifth-most among all freshmen in the country.
FIU (13-15, 5-12 C-USA) is led by Ali Gorrell. Gorrell leads the Owls in points, rebounds, assists and steals per contest.
FAU leads the conference in 3-pointers made (186) and in assist/turnover ratio (1.0) and is second in assists (14.3), and 3-point percentage (.354). The Owls’ 9.8 triples per game is the sixth-most scored per game in the country. Kat Wright averages 2.82 buckets from beyond the arc, the 17th-best in the NCAA.
Last time the pair met, UAB escaped Boca Raton with a 67-62 win, improving its overall record against the Owls to 5-1. The Blazers are perfect at home against FAU with a 3-0 mark.
The Blazers have officially secured a first-round bye in the C-USA tournament with their win over FIU last time out.
The Conference USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships are set to return to Birmingham for the second consecutive year, marking the third time the Blazers will host the event. The men’s tournament, as well as the women’s semifinals and championship, will be played at Legacy Arena in downtown Birmingham, while the women’s first-round and quarterfinal action will take place at UAB’s Bartow Arena.
