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Women lose third straight game

Posted on Feb 02, 2010 in Sports

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HUNTINGTON, W. Va. — UAB freshman guard Jala Harris scored a career-high 40 points to lead all scorers, but the Blazers suffered a heartbreaking 85-84 loss to Marshall in double overtime on Saturday night at the Cam Henderson Center. Junior guard Amanda Peterson chipped in 21 points, knocking down a season-high seven 3-pointers, one shy of her career-best.

Harris’ performance not only is the best in conference play this season, but also is historic, as she is just the third player in C-USA history and the first since 2004 to score 40 or more points in a league game. In addition to four assists and two steals, the Madison, Ala., native knocked down a career-best five treys in the contest, marking the fourth straight game she has drained at least four 3-pointers. Harris has scored 20 or more points in seven of the last eight games and reached double-figures in 13 of the last 15 contests.

Peterson’s 21 points matched her season-high. She also moved into third on the school’s all-time 3-point list, surpassing Holly Holland and Uvette Dabney with her 186th career 3-pointer.

Senior forward Tamika Dukes chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds for the Blazers. It marked the 14th game in a row she has reached double-digits and 18th of the season.

The Blazers played the majority of the game without guards Miteka Trueheart and Amber Jones, as they collided going after a loose ball midway through the first half. Both were able to walk off the court and eventually returned to the bench in the second half, but never re-entered the game.

“I’m proud of the way different people stepped up tonight after we lost Miteka and Amber,” UAB head coach Audra Smith said. “It was a battle and we had a chance to win it, but again just couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities.”
Marshall (13-8, 5-3 C-USA) was paced by Kendra King’s 36 points and 16 rebounds, while Mystee Dale and Chantelle Handy added 18 points and 16 points, respectively.

The Blazers (10-9, 4-3 C-USA) have lost their last three contests by a combined six points, and three of the last four losses have come in overtime.

The glaring difference in the game was at the stripe, as the Herd was 26-of-36 to the Blazers’ 7-of-8. Marshall shot 11 of those free throws in the two overtime periods, while UAB had just three, all coming from Harris. She scored 16 points in the two overtime periods, all but four of UAB’s points in the final 10 minutes.

Harris also scored UAB’s final seven points in regulation, meaning 23 of her points came within the final 15 minutes of the game.

After the pair exited the game, UAB went on a 10-0 run and carried that momentum to a 31-24 lead at the break. The Blazers led by as many as 16 in the second half before the Herd regained the lead with 4:23 to play.

The two teams seesawed back and forth until Handy’s free throws tied the game with 14 seconds to play and Peterson’s three at the buzzer rimmed out to send the game into overtime.

The Herd’s biggest lead of three came in the first overtime with 1:59 left. Harris made back-to-back free throws to cut it to one, but King responded with a layup to widen the lead back to three.

Harris answered with a trey to tie the game at 71 then knocked down another bucket to put the Blazers up by two before Handy sank another layup to send the game to a second overtime.

Harris knocked down a jumper to open the second half, then scored the next five points for the Blazers. With the game tied at 82 and a 1:00 left, Dukes knocked down a bucket for the two-point advantage. After King hit a free throw, UAB clung to a one-point lead until the final 12 seconds when Dale hit a pair of free throws to give Marshall an 85-84 lead. The Blazers had chance for the final shot, but were unable to capitalize.

UAB looks to bounce back from the three-game skid when it hits the road for the third straight game on Thursday, traveling to Memphis for a 7 p.m. showdown.




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