Alabama Falls to UAB in Road Opener
12/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
 |
|
BOX SCORE
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Alabama women's basketball team nearly completed the comeback Tuesday night in its road opener against UAB (2-4) but fell to the Blazers 70-62 at Bartow Arena.
The Crimson Tide (3-3) trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half, but twice cut the deficit to six points inside of three minutes to play, however, couldn't draw any closer.
The story of the game was UAB's hot shooting. The Blazers entered the game shooting just 21 percent from behind the three-point arc but shot an uncanny 42 percent Tuesday, knocking down six trays in the game. None was bigger than Crystal McFadden's three-pointer with 2:37 left in the game that stretched the Blazers' lead back to nine just when it looked like Alabama was ready to make run. McFadden led the Blazers with 31 points on the night.
In contrast, Alabama had a hard time getting anything to fall. As a team the Tide shot just 40 percent from the field and was just 16 of 32 from the charity stripe. In addition, Alabama made just two of 15 attempted three-point shots.
"I want to congratulate UAB," Alabama head coach Stephany Smith said. "They played a great game. I thought they played with a lot of fight and energy and for the most part we didn't."
Despite the loss, a pair of Tide players turned in stellar performances and recorded double-doubles. Navonda Moore scored a team-high 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to earn her first career double-double and Dee Merriweather had 10 points and 12 boards for her seventh career double-double.
Prior to McFadden's final three-point basket, Moore hit a pair of free throws to bring Alabama to within six points. It was as close as Alabama had been to the Blazers since the 4:47 mark of the first half. After seeing the UAB lead stretched back to nine points, Moore and the Tide came right back as Moore completed a three-point play of her own. Moore hit the first of two free-throws, but after missing the second, she followed her shot and put the rebound in for two to bring Alabama back to within six.
"We had some opportunities and we played harder in the second half," Smith said, "but UAB made some shots down the stretch. If we would have had that kind of effort then it would have been a different story."
Lauren Hill, Alabama's leading scorer entering the game, failed to score on the night. Hill picked up a pair of quick fouls in each half and only saw only 15 minutes of action and never was able to find her rhythm.
Alabama jumped out to a 12-6 lead 5:00 into the game and for much of the remainder of the first half the two teams traded buckets. UAB took its first lead of the game midway through the opening half when Carman Guzman hit a tray to give the Blazers a 24-23 lead. But the game changed with 4:47 to play in the first half. That's when UAB began a 10-0 to end the half and take a 40-28 lead into the half. Alabama was never able to recover.
Alabama will be back in action on December 10 in Tuscaloosa as the Tide plays host to Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m.
