Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UAB
Strong Second Half Propels Herd Past Blazers
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- AJ Johnson drilled six 3-pointers and Chukwuka Ezeigbo secured her 13th double-double of the season to lift Marshall's women's basketball team to a 71-52 win over visiting UAB on a snowy Saturday afternoon at the Cam Henderson Center.
The Herd improved to 15-10 overall and 7-7 in Conference USA with the win, while UAB dropped to 14-12 and 8-7 in the league.
Johnson netted 23 points on 6-13 shooting from 3-point range and Ezeigbo pitched in 10 points and 10 rebounds in just 24 minutes of action. Leah Scott also had an impressive outing with 15 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals, while Aja Sorrells added eight assists and four steals.
UAB was led by Janae Smith's 19 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing another double-double effort, which was hamstrung after picking up a fourth foul with 9:35 left. Janeka Williams added four assists and Kayla Anderson registered three blocked shots.
The Herd jumped out to a quick 18-9 lead on a 3-pointer by Scott at the 13:36 mark, forcing an early UAB timeout. UAB fought back, however, and had the lead back down to three (31-28) at the half.
The Blazers even took a three-point lead (36-33) on a 3-pointer by Whytney Singleton at the 16:24 mark, but Marshall responded with a 9-0 run on six points by Sorrells and one of Johnson's 3-pointers to grab a 42-36 lead just over four minutes later.
The Herd kept churning the margin higher and higher from that point forward, even growing it to 22 (71-49) on Johnson's only 2-point shot, before UAB's Kasey Drayton hit a corner 3-pointer for the game's final margin.
Second-half shooting told the story as Marshall drained 50 percent (13-26) of its shots, while UAB struggled to a 25.9% clip (7-27).
For the game, Marshall made 11 of its 24 3-point attempts (45.8%). UAB made five of 18 (27.8%).
Marshall will head down to Florida next week for a 6 p.m. tip at FIU on Thursday and a 5 p.m. start at Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
