Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UAB
Marshall Unable to Fight Past UAB Defense
2/5/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2012
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - UAB's No. 3 nationally ranked defense proved too much for the Marshall women's basketball team on Sunday afternoon as the Herd fell to the Blazers, 50-45.
Marshall dropped to 13-9 (4-5 C-USA) with the loss, while UAB improved to 16-5 (7-2 C-USA).
Rashedah Henriques earned her second double-digit point total in a row, grabbing a team-high 10 points after going 3-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 in three-pointers. The senior guard also led the team on the boards with six rebounds.
Erica Woods followed Henriques with an eight point effort and snagged a season-high four steals against the Blazers. The sophomore forward also finished with five boards, four of which were defensive.
Marshall struggled in the field to open up the game, shooting only 3-for-13 from the field which allowed UAB to establish a 24-8 lead with 4:36 left in the first half.
"Their defense was very good," commented head coach Royce Chadwick on UAB. "We didn't have the attack mode that we needed. They were pressing us to slow us up and you have to attack that in the backcourt, but we were a little bit too complacent."
In the final four minutes of the first half, Marshall was able to find an opening in the UAB press defense and went on a 12-0 run to trim the Blazer's 16-point lead to just a 24-20 score at halftime.
The Herd held the four-point deficit for the first six minutes of the first half, until Henriques pulled the game within one (32-31) after making a three-pointer at the 13:45 mark.
Marshall stole the lead back for the first time since the opening basket with 12:28 left in the game after Lateidra Elliott drove in a lay-up to make the score 33-32.
After starting the game with less than a 25.0 percent average in the field for the first ten minutes, Marshall had opened the second half on a better note, starting the first ten minutes of the second period going 6-for-8 from the field.
After making the score 33-32, Marshall and UAB changed the lead three different times before UAB took a seven point advantage with three minutes left in the game.
Elliott was able to make a steal in the final 45 seconds and finish the fast-break lay-up to bring the game within two points at 47-45, but good free throw shooting by the Blazers pushed for the Marshall defeat in the closing seconds.
"We had chances down the stretch," noted Chadwick after the game. "It seemed like it was going to come down to who was going to make plays down the stretch and they made the plays. It boils down to five points. Two or three plays here and there and it's a different basketball game."
Comparatively, Marshall was able to grab 10 steals during the game, while the Blazers' No. 3 nationally ranked defense only had five. The Herd was negative-one (19-18) in the turnover margin, but Marshall was able to out-rebound UAB 33-29.
Marshall will hit the road for two games next week against UTEP and ECU. The Herd will first play UTEP at 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday and will follow that game with a contest against ECU at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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