Jan. 9, 2005

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The UAB women's basketball team got as close as three points halfway through the second half, but could not continue its hot shooting, as the Blazers were defeated by Louisville, 74-59, in Bartow Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Blazers cut the Cardinals' lead to 46-43, with 11:52 in the contest, but were outscored 28-16 the rest of the way.

UAB (4-11, 1-1) had hit 41.0 percent of its shots with 11:52 left in the game, but only hit four of its final 17 shots. Additionally, the Blazers were 0-of-4 from beyond the arc. UAB hit 35.7 percent from the floor in the contest.

"I have to commend Louisville for coming in here and being aggressive on the offensive end," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "They had some kids that have not been normally knocking down some shots for them that stepped up and hit some big threes that hurt us. The bottom line is that I do not feel like we gave enough effort today. In the first half we were too relaxed and too lackadaisical and we did not have that pep in our step or that extra bounce that we had on Friday. We relaxed too early and we got ourselves in a hole, which we were trying to fight back out of that hole throughout the entire game and we were never able to tie it or even go ahead, so it was difficult for us to do that. We have just got to learn how to fight and fight back regardless of the score."

Domaneice Moore led UAB with 14 points in the game. Carmen Guzman added 13, while LaKitha Murray registered a career-high 12 points. Moore and Christon Ingram were the Blazers' leading rebounders with six boards each. Guzman also dished a team-high four assists.

The Blazers committed a season-low eight turnovers in the game; however UAB did not record a steal for the first time this season. The Blazers' bench also proved to be critical, tallying 30 points, compared to 12 by the Louisville. UAB also had 13 second-chance points, while only allowing the Cardinals four.

After being outrebounded eight-to-four on the offensive glass in the first 20 minutes of play, the Blazers tallied eight offensive boards compared to three by Louisville in the second half.

The Cardinals (10-5, 1-1) had three players score in double-digits with Jazz Covington leading the way with 22 points. Missy Taylor contributed 20 points and was the game's leading rebounder with 11 boards in the contest. Louisville used its size advantage to outrebound the Blazers' 40-30. Additionally, the Cardinals hit an impressive 54.0 percent of their shots, going 27-of-50 from the floor and 6-of-11 from the three-point line. Louisville also blocked five of the Blazers' shots.

Louisville had a 36-28 halftime lead, behind 48.1 shooting. The Cardinals also took a 21-13 rebound lead into the locker room, grabbing eight offensive boards compared to four by UAB. Additionally, Louisville dominated the paint, tallying 14 points in the lane, while the Blazers registered eight.

UAB travels to Texas next weekend to face Houston on Friday, January 14 at 7 p.m. and TCU in Fort Worth on Sunday, January 16 at 2 p.m.