Jan. 18, 2007

Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Senior Carmen Guzman scored a game-high 24 points to lead the UAB women's basketball team to its fifth Conference USA win of the season as they downed the Pirates of East Carolina, 59-52, Thursday evening in Bartow Arena. The Blazers saw their record improve to 10-8 overall and 5-1 in the league, while East Carolina fell to 8-11 overall and 3-3 in conference games.

The Blazers controlled the first half of play, holding as much as an eight point lead over at the 8:04 mark on a pair of free throws by sophomore Britney Jones. East Carolina put together a 10-2 run that spanned over seven minutes to tie the game at 19-all with 45 seconds left before the half. Two free throws by Guzman with 20 seconds on the clock put the Blazers up by two, 21-19, as the two squads entered the locker rooms at halftime.

Neither team was shooting well in the first 20 minutes of play, as UAB shot 25.0 percent and East Carolina made just 24.2 percent of its attempts. The Pirates did hold a large advantage on the boards in the first half, out-rebounding the Blazers 32-20, including eight by ECU's Nicole Days.

After going back-and-forth in the opening minutes of the second half, the game was tied at 23 a piece with 18:20 remaining in the contest. That is when East Carolina went on a 10-0 run to take its first double-digit lead of the game, 33-23, with 13:50 left. The Pirates' largest lead of the night was at the 12:09 mark, 38-27.

UAB made a run of its own, outscoring East Carolina 14-0 over the next five minutes to take a three-point lead, 41-38, with 7:33 remaining on the clock. The Blazers began to increase their lead throughout the closing minutes of the game, going up by as much as 10 points and finishing the game with a seven-point victory over the Pirates, 59-52.

Guzman extended her streak of consecutive double-figure scoring games to 18 with her 24-point performance against East Carolina. Guzman also contributed six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in UAB's win over the Pirates.

Junior Diamond Rogers tallied her second consecutive double-double with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Rogers added two assists, three blocks and a trio of steals to her resume as well.

LaCoya Terry paced East Carolina with 13 points, while Jasmine Young added 10 points to the Pirates' total. Nicole Days led ECU on the boards with 11 rebounds, while also scoring six points.

UAB shot 44.0 percent in the second half to finish the game with a 34.0 shooting percentage. East Carolina sank 26.3 percent of its shots, including 22.2 percent from three-point range. The Pirates grabbed 22 offensive boards on the night on their way to a total of 56 rebounds against UAB. The Blazers nabbed 40 defensive boards and finished the game with a total of 49 rebounds.

UAB's next outing will be against Conference USA foe Marshall on Saturday, January 20 at 6 p.m. in Bartow Arena.