The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
North Texas
Blazers Overcome 15-Point Deficit, Fall in Overtime
1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Score: North Texas 59 , UAB 58 (OT) Final Box (PDF)
Records: UAB (7-6, 0-2 C-USA), North Texas (5-9, 2-1 C-USA)
Location: Birmingham, Ala. at Bartow Arena (8,500)
Series Record: UAB leads 7-6, Norton vs. North Texas: 2-2; In Bartow: UNT leads 2-1
UAB Highlights l Coach Norton Postgame Press Conference
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB women’s basketball team erased a 15-point deficit to force overtime, but couldn’t complete the comeback as the Blazers fell to North Texas, 59-58. Miyah Barnes and Kara Rawls led a trio of Blazers in double figures with 15 points apiece.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Trailing 15-0 the UAB women’s basketball team outscored North Texas 22-9 in the fourth quarter to force overtime, but the Mean Green outscored the Blazers 5-4 in overtime to earn the victory.
- Trailing 47-32 to open the fourth, but the Blazers were relentless as they used a 12-0 run spanning over two minutes, to cut the lead to three, 47-44. North Texas added cushion to the lead to put the Mean Green up 50-44 with 1:34 remaining in regulation.
- Miyah Barnes and Jankea Williams led the Blazers on a 6-0 run, to tie the game at 50-all. The Blazers and Mean Green traded buckets before Miyah Barnes’ 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining sent the game into overtime.
- UAB’s slow start to the game allowed North Texas to take an early 7-0 lead. Seven minutes in, Rachael Childress got the Blazers on the board with a jumper. At the end of the first, UAB trailed NT 18-11.
- The Blazers cut the Mean Green’s lead to three, 20-17, with 7:02 remaining in the first half, but shooting woes allowed UNT to lead 31-23 at the break.
- In the third, North Texas took its largest lead, 15, with 2:48 to go as it outscored the Blazers 10-3. However, the Blazers would outscore the Mean Green 28-13 to end the contest to force overtime.
UAB HIGHLIGHTS
- Junior Kara Rawls netted a career best 15 points, tied a career-high in field goals (5) , blocked a career-best two shots, made a career-high five free throws, tied a career-high steals (3), and played a season-high 20 minutes
- Rawls was perfect from the field (5-of-5)
- Rawls recorded the fourth double-figure game of her career
- Freshman Rachael Childress recorded her seventh double figure scoring game of the season, tying Deanna Kuzmanic for most this year
- Freshman Miyah Barnes had the fifth double figure game of her career
- Childress played a career high 44 minutes and tied a career high six rebounds
- Miyah Barnes reeled in a career high six rebounds
- Barnes netted a career-high two 3-pointers; the freshman has hit two triples three times in her career
- Senior Janeka Williams attempted a season high six field goals, tied a season high four rebounds, and played a season high 26 minutes
- Junior T’erra Lewis was perfect from the field (2-of-2)
- Sophomore Deanna Kuzmanic tied a season-high in minutes played (39)
- Junior Keonna Farmer made her 13th consecutive start tying the longest streak of her career
- Sophomore Deanna Kuzmanic made her 44th consecutive start, the longest active streak on the team
TEAM NOTES
- UAB moves to 7-6 this season and 0-2 in C-USA play
- Head coach Randy Norton drops to 56-50 overall and 25-29 in league play
- UAB played its first overtime game since March 10, 2016 against UTEP (L, 62-59) and its first regular-season overtime game since February 21, 2016 against Middle Tennessee (L, 7-72)
- Head Coach Randy Norton is 2-5 in overtime games
- The starting lineup of Miyah Barnes, Deanna Kuzmanic, Micah Scheetz, Rachael Childress, and Keonna Farmer suffers its second loss (3-2)
- UAB had three players in double figures (Childress, Barnes, Rawls); they have had three or more players score double figures seven times this season
- UAB is 0-3 in games decided by three points or less this season
- The Blazers are 0-5 when trailing at the half
- The UAB bench outscored North Texas 30-17; UAB has outscored its opponents bench 10 times this season, they are 6-4 in those games
- North Texas held UAB to a season-low nine points in the third quarter
BREAKING DOWN THE BOX SCORE
- UAB outscored North Texas 22-9 in the fourth quarter; after being down 15, UAB outscored North Texas 28-13 to force overtime
- UAB led for 48 seconds while North Texas led for 41:32
- Kara Rawls and Miyah Barnes paced the UAB offense with 15 points apiece
- Rachael Childress added 13 points for UAB
- UAB’s bench outscored UNT’s 30-17
- In the fourth quarter, UAB shot 66.7 percent (8-of-12) from the floor; on the night, the Blazers made just 41.2 percent of its attempts (21-of-51)
- North Texas shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the first quarter (7-of-12) and 44.2 percent overall (23-of-52)
- North Texas led in point off turnovers (12-11), and second chance points (11-8)
- UAB led in bench points (30-17) while the Mean Green and Blazers each tallied 28 points in the paint
- North Texas had one play in double figures (Terra Ellison, 11)
- On the glass, Keonna Farmer reeled in nine boards
- UAB’s bench shot 11-of-16 (68.9 percent) from the floor
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Randy Norton
Opening Statement…
It was a tough loss. I didn’t say anything to the team, I want to watch the tape. I know that you can’t win a basketball game in this league if you don’t play for three quarters and we didn’t start playing hard until the end of the third quarter. We had some people not produce tonight, but had some others that came in and did a nice job. We had some tough situations at the end of the game but that’s all part of it. They’re going to have to go through this and learn from it to get better.
On what changed in the fourth quarter…
I thought we played hard. We couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean tonight, but we finally started to play hard in the third quarter. Tonight was an effort thing. For whatever reason the ball wasn’t going in the hole and those are night when you have to be able to defend and rebound and we didn’t do a very good job about that.
On junior Kara Rawls…
(Kara) always gives a great effort. She is always going to leave it all on the floor. She's definitely a spark coming off the bench.
On being comfortable with Miyah Barnes having the ball in her hands at the end of the game…
I do, she’s a clutch player and she’s going to try to make the play. Again you hate to lose these games but these games are the only way these freshmen will learn. They’re being thrown into the fire and they have to make plays in a really good league. They’re going to be better for it; it stinks right now, the feeling that we have, but it’s going to make them tougher, make them grow as players, and give them that experience. These games, they’re hard to lose now, but they’re going to benefit us as the season goes on.
UP NEXT
UAB concludes its five-game homestand on Saturday when it welcomes Rice to Bartow Arena. Tip between the Blazers and Owls is set for 2 p.m.
For more information on UAB women’s basketball, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_WBB), Instagram (@UAB_WBBALL)
