Blazers Season Ends in WNIT Second Round

Sunday, March 24

Fayetteville, Ark.

2 p.m.

UAB

26-7

100

Arkansas

22-14

UAB

Arkansas

100

Blazers Season Ends in WNIT Second Round

3/24/2019 4:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The UAB women's basketball team's 2018-19 season came to a close on Sunday afternoon as the Blazers fell 100-52 to Arkansas in the second round of Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT).

UAB (26-7, 12-4 C-USA) closes the 2018-19 campaign having won 25+ games in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history, finished in second place in the Conference USA regular season standings and won the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn Classic on Dec. 21 in Fort Myers.

"Wow, Arkansas played extremely well today," head coach Randy Norton said. "It was one of those days where we got outplayed and sometimes that happens. I told our players that one game is not going to define our season and what our two seniors have done for our program. 27 wins last year, 26 this year and have broken so many records so one game won't define us. I think our seniors and everyone associated with our program would be very disappointed if we didn't carry on the legacy that Maya (Garland) and Deanna (Kuzmanic) have left on our program. I love our team and it was just one of those days."

The Blazers finish the season having set program records for 3-pointers made (291), triples attempted (811) and carry the third highest 3-point field goal percentage (35.9 percent).

Katleynn Thomas led UAB offensively, netting a game high 20 points on nine made field goals. One of the nation's best from the field, the junior finished the season shooting 62.0 percent (183-295) from the floor, the third best mark in a single season in UAB history.

Deanna Kuzmanic finished the game with seven points, totaling 1,536 over her four-year career, the 11th most in program history. The senior started all 128 games of her career, was a three-time member of the Conference USA All-Academic Team and earned All-Conference honors on three occasions.

Arkansas opened the game on 5-0 run, before the Blazers responded with a 6-0 one as Kuzmanic, Thomas and Angela Vendrell all netted jumpers on consecutive possessions to give UAB a 6-5 lead. The Razorbacks responded with a 9-0 run midway through the first quarter before another Thomas bucket halted the run, but Arkansas ended the first quarter hitting the final four shots of the period to lead 26-10 after one.

Kuzmanic netted a pair of free throws to open the second quarter as the teams traded buckets before Arkansas hit a pair of free throws on ensuing possessions, forcing UAB to call timeout with 6:44 to play in the half. Arkansas closed the first half on a 15-6 run, hitting three 3-pointers over the final 6:19 of the period to lead 52-22 at halftime.

UAB opened the second half with the first bucket as Thomas layed one in, but that would spark a 20-2 Arkansas run, giving the Razorbacks a 72-28 lead at the media break of the third quarter. The Blazers came out of the break and hit three straight foul shots, but the Razorbacks closed the third quarter on a 13-2 run to lead 83-35 after three periods completed.

The Blazers opened the fourth quarter on an 11-5 run, cutting the game to 90-46 highlighted by UAB's first 3-pointer of the game off the hands of Lea Kerstein with 7:28 to play. Maya Garland hit a pair of 3-pointers over the minutes but they were not enough as UAB fell 100-52.

UAB is set to return all but two letterwinners from this season, while ushering in three freshmen for the 2019-20 season.

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