Blazers Set for Sunday Clash at Louisiana Tech

RUSTON, La. – Coming off an exhilarating win over UTEP to jump start a third-game road trip, the UAB women's basketball team puts its four-game winning streak on the line on Sunday as it travels to Ruston, Louisiana to take on Louisiana Tech.

The Blazers are an impressive 7-1 on the road this season, the most road wins by the team since the 2011-12 season and the most under head coach Randy Norton. Friday's victory over UTEP also matched the most wins for the program with Norton at the helm at 18.

"I am very pleased with our win at UTEP," Norton said. "They have a great team and are well coached. Most importantly, I liked the way our team responded to some adversity being down eight points and coming back to win by 20. LA Tech is a very good team and they are extremely difficult to play on their home court. I feel like the girls learned a lot after the UTEP game and are eager to build on the momentum from Thursday night."

UAB put on an electrifying performance on Friday night, defeating UTEP 84-64 on the back of a 30-12 fourth quarter effort from the Blazers. The team shot lights out from behind the arc against the Miners, connecting on a school-record 17 3-pointers in the game, toppling the previous record of 14 set on March 24, 2011 against Manhattan.

Sophomore Rachael Childress led the charge for the Blazers' offense, finishing the game with 26 points. Childress did the majority of her damage from behind the 3-point line, knocking down a career-high eight 3-pointers in the win.

Deanna Kuzmanic and sophomore Trista Magee were the only other Blazers in double figures with 19 points and 14 points, respectively.

Childress continues to be UAB's top offense threat, leading the team in scoring with an average of 14.7 points per game. Kuzmanic is currently averaging 13. 1 points per contest, while Miyah Barnes comes in with 11.2 points per game.

The team boasts two of the most unselfish players in the league in Kuzmanic and Barnes with Kuzmanic leading the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 2.9 and Barnes leading the team with 107 assists this season, 19 shy of cracking into the top-10 for most assists in a single season. As a unit, the Blazers have the NCAA's fourth-best assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and are averaging the 10^th-most assists per game in the nation (18.7).

Thursday's record-breaking efforts from deep also saw the Blazers move back into second in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 41.7 percent behind Oregon State (42.0%).

Louisiana Tech has won two of its last three contests with its most recent win an impressive 66-49 road triumph against preseason favorites Middle Tennessee. The Lady Techsters were led by Kierra Anthony's 20 points.

Anthony and Alexus Malone pace the Lady Techsters' offense as both are averaging 13.0 points per game, while Taylor Stahly averages 11.5 points per game of her own.

The two teams will meet for just the sixth time on Sunday with UAB leading the all-time series, 3-2. The Lady Techsters won the latest meeting between the two schools, a 64-63 victory in Ruston.

Sunday's game will be broadcast live on CUSA.tv, with live stats available at latechsports.com.

For more information on the UAB women's basketball team follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_WBB), Instagram (UAB_WBBALL) or like them on Facebook (Facebook.com/UABWBB).

Blazers Set for Sunday Clash at Louisiana Tech

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Miyah Barnes

Rachael Childress

Deanna Kuzmanic

Trista Magee

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics