Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UAB
Marshall Women Drop Home Contest to UAB, 62-55
2/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2007
UAB-Marshall Game Book
Download Free Acrobat Reader
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - UAB's staunch rebounding coupled with the clutch shooting of Carmen Guzman and Britney Jones paved the way for the Blazers' 62-55 road win in Conference USA women's basketball action at the Cam Henderson Center on Saturday.
The Blazers (13-9, 8-2) were unwavering on the glass, out-rebounding the Thundering Herd 45-32 to spoil Marshall's 1,000th game in program history. Junior Diamond Rogers grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, six on the offensive glass, to fall one rebound shy of her career high en route to serving the Herd its worst rebounding disparity in C-USA play this year.
Rogers, who netted 20 points on the strength of a 6-for-8 mark from 3-point range in the team's meeting on Jan. 20, went 4-for-8 from distance for 16 points to help snap UAB's three-game slide to Marshall.
Guzman, the nation's fifth-leading scorer, tallied a game-high 17 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. After playing only 14 first-half minutes due to foul trouble, the senior guard scored 10 points in the second frame and played all 20 minutes of the half. Jones scored 11 points, eight in the second half, and hit a pair of deflating 3-pointers midway through the period.
Marshall (14-9, 7-3) lost its first C-USA home game in part because of its sputtering offense down the stretch. The Herd, down 54-50 with 5:26 left, finished the game 2-for-8 from the floor and committed a pair of unforced turnovers in that span.
The Herd played virtually the entire game from behind, save for its early 2-0 lead. UAB never led by more than seven points in the first half and Marshall closed to within three points, 27-24, at halftime. The Blazers jumped out to an eight-point lead three minutes into the second half and led by as much as 12 points seven minutes in.
Once Marshall trailed by double-digits, the team came alive in the form of an 11-5 run. A barrage of short-range misses, however, didn't allow MU to ride its run to the fullest. Meg Withrow (Nitro, W.Va.) nailed a 3-pointer with just over five minutes left that pulled the Herd to within four points before the offense went awry.
Neither team scored for almost four minutes after Withrow's trey, leaving the Herd down by four points until Rogers' layup to put UAB up six with 1:39 remaining. Alix Barnette (Chapel Hill, N.C.) hit a trey with 25 seconds left to get to within three points, 58-55, but the Blazers went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to seal the victory.
"We're extremely disappointed with the way we played, but hats off to UAB," Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick, who coached his 700th career game, said. "They hit a lot of tough shots tonight.
"We didn't rebound as well as we normally do," he said. "Our defense was solid at times, but sporadic when it counted the most."
Withrow scored a team-high 15 points. MU center Modupe Ishola (Washington, D.C.) was held to only nine points and nine rebounds. She blocked four Blazer shots and dished out two assists in a season-high 36 minutes. Forward Kendra King (Fairfax, Va.) matched her career-high with four assists, along with seven points, a block and a steal.
Marshall's bench, without the services of forward Meagan Samis (Oklahoma City, Okla.) who is out with an arm injury, provided only nine points on 3-of-15 shooting.
Despite blocking a season-high six shots and committing only 14 turnovers, its lowest total since its C-USA opener versus Houston on Dec. 2, Marshall could not overcome its lack of presence on the glass.
"You can't win basketball games in Conference USA getting out-rebounded by thirteen," Chadwick said.
UAB shot 40.7 percent in the second half and hit a number of momentum-changing shots from all over the court.
"They had big-time players making big-time plays," Chadwick said. "Guzman is big time. Every time they needed a play she made it."
Marshall will return to the road for its next two games, Feb. 9 at Tulsa and Feb. 11 at SMU.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
