Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UAB
Herd Falls To UAB In Home Finale, 60-48
2/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - UAB opened up with a 14-2 run and never looked back, downing the Thundering Herd, 60-48, in Conference USA women's basketball action Saturday evening at the Cam Henderson Center.
The Blazers (13-14, 9-5 C-USA) led by as many as 21 points with 14 minutes left in the second half. Marshall (14-14, 6-8 C-USA) made a run to cut the lead to ten with under four minutes remaining in the game, but two-straight field goals put the game away for the Blazers.
With its top player Diamond Rogers out of the game, the UAB defense stepped up, holding the Thundering Herd to season lows in points (48), field goals (14) and shooting percentage (.264).
Alyssa Hammond finished as the only Marshall player in double figures with 12 points, ten coming from the foul line.
Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick commented on the scoring struggles following the game. "I don't think I've ever seen as many shots that just wouldn't fall. They seemed like good shots for us," Chadwick said.
"We couldn't get anything to go down early and it's very difficult to just keep playing defense. We didn't shoot the ball well all night long. We started the game exceptionally cold."
The Herd struggled on the offensive end from the start, going 1-of-5 with seven turnovers through the first eight minutes of the contest. The Blazers took full advantage of the Marshall struggles, opening up a 14-2 lead. The Herd went on a 7-2 run over the next four minutes to cut the lead to seven.
Over the final seven minutes of the half, UAB would gradually build its up to as many as 16 points in the final minute of the half before two free throws by Casey Baker made it a 14-point game at the half.
The Herd was hoping for a repeat of Thursday's game against Memphis where it overcame a 13-point deficit at the half to win by ten, but today's game was a different story. A jumper by Chantelle Handy cut the Blazer lead to 12, by Fatiha Salaam came right back with a three, which propelled the Blazers on a 12-4 run that gave them a 20-point lead with 13:24 remaining in the game.
UAB's lead grew to as many as 21, 51-30, at the 8:25 mark before Marshall made its run. The Herd managed to get UAB into foul trouble midway through the half and took advantage of its opportunities from the charity stripe, scoring its next eight points via the free throw. Those points, capped off by a Kizzy Hart trey and a lay-up by Melody Hudson cut the UAB lead to just ten points with 3:44 left in the contest.
Just when it looked like the Herd could get back into the game, the Blazers got an offensive rebound on a Britney Jones miss and turned that into a three. Following a Baker miss, an Erica Simpson bucket pushed the lead back to 15 points. Marshall was unable to get back in the game after that point, finishing the match 0-of-6 from the field as the Blazers finished with the 12-point win.
While Hammond was the only MU player in double-digits, several others put forth admirable efforts. Alix Barnette went 4-of-6 en route to a nine-point game. Casey Baker grabbed a team-high seven rebounds while scoring six points and tallying four steals and four assists. Chantelly Handy notched six rebounds and four points.
Today's game marked the final game for Marshall's three seniors, Kizzy Hart, Melody Hudson and Meagan Samis. All three were starters in their final game at the Henderson Center. Hart finished the game with seven points, four boards and three steals. Hudson tallied six points, four steals and three rebounds while Samis scored four.
Leading UAB was Britney Jones, who recorded a game-high 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. She went 5-of-9 beyond-the-arc. Crystal McFadden scored 14 points and led all players with eight rebounds.
After allowing UAB to shoot 48.1% in the opening half, the Marshall defense buckled down in the second period, holding the Blazers to 31% shooting. It was not enough, though, as the Herd offense was unable to find its stride, finishing the game with a .264 shooting percentage.
Next weekend, the Herd will wrap up the regular season with a trip to Houston to face Rice on Thursday before squaring off against Houston on Saturday.
