March 3, 2007

Final Stats

TULSA, Okla. - The UAB women's basketball team fell to East Carolina in the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament, 85-81, Saturday evening in the Reynolds Center. The Blazers, who were the No. 2 seed in the tournament, were led by senior Carmen Guzman and junior Diamond Rogers, who scored 26 and 20 respectively against the third-seeded Pirates.

"I'm just so proud of my team," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "We battled out there today. We gave everything we had and I am proud of their effort.

"East Carolina, as always, is a tough matchup for us, but we battled in and out. I give them praise for playing a very good game tonight."

The Blazers jumped out to a quick 10-point lead in the first half, holding a 29-19 edge over East Carolina with 8:26 left before halftime. The Pirates went on an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to cut UAB's lead to two, 29-27.

UAB extended its lead back to six on a three-point bucket by Rogers with 2:03 left in the first period, but a pair of free throw by ECU's Cherie Mills and a layup by LaCoya Terry put East Carolina back within two, 40-38, with 52 seconds before the break. Two free throws by UAB sophomore Britney Jones gave the Blazers a four-point advantage at halftime, 42-38.

East Carolina outscored UAB 6-1 in the opening minutes of the second half to take a one-point lead over the Blazers, 44-43, at the 18:36 mark. A three-point basket by Guzman handed UAB the lead again by two, 46-44, but ECU's Jasmine Young answered with a layup to tie the game at 46-all with 17:15 left in the contest.

The Pirates then went on a 6-0 run, led by a pair of layups by Terry, to take a 52-46 lead over UAB with 15:39 left in the game. East Carolina went up by as much as seven points, 54-47, at the 14:51 mark, but UAB came back within one, 60-59, with 11:40 left on the clock.

UAB kept it a one-possession game during the next four minutes, finally regaining the lead at the 7:17 mark on a three-pointer by Rogers to move the score to 67-65 in favor of the Blazers. The Pirates countered that with a three-point bucket of their own by Jessica Slack to put ECU up, 68-67, with 6:20 remaining in the game.

The Blazers came back to tie it up at 70-all on a three-point basket by Guzman with 5:23 left in the game, but East Carolina went on a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead at the 3:16 mark, 77-72.

A bucket from beyond the arc by UAB freshman Fatiha Salaam deadlocked the game at 80-all with 1:42 remaining in the contest, but ECU's Terry responded with a jumper at the 1:09 mark to put the Pirates on top by two, 82-80. Missed free throws down the stretch by UAB, combined with East Carolina going 3-of-4 from the line in the final minute of the game gave the Pirates the four-point victory over the Blazers, 85-81.

Guzman finished the night with her second consecutive game with 20-plus points, hitting 11-of-20 from the field, including four from beyond the arc. Guzman also added four rebounds, five assists and one steal against East Carolina.

Rogers tallied her second straight double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 boards, while also adding four assists, three steals and two blocks. Rogers was 7-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-8 from three-point range versus the Pirates.

Junior Christon Ingram was the third Blazer to reach double figures with 14 points on the night, including 4-of-4 from the floor. Jones hit 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to lead her to 12 points and Salaam finished with nine points, including a trio of three-point buckets.

All five starters scored in double figures for East Carolina, led by Terry with a game-high 30 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. Mills added 17 points, while Young and Nicole Days scored 11 each and Impris Manning chipped in 10. Mills recorded a double-double by adding a game-high 12 rebounds to her 17 points before fouling out.

For the game, UAB hit 45.2 percent of its shots compared to East Carolina's 47.7 percent. The Blazers sank 14-of-29 (.483) from beyond the arc, while the Pirates made 33.3 percent (3-of-9) of their three-point attempts. The biggest difference was at the free throw line, where East Carolina sank 20-of-26 and UAB hit 11-of-23.

No. 3 East Carolina will meet No. 4 Rice, who defeated No. 1 Tulane in the first semifinal game on Saturday, in the championship game on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.