BIRMINGHAM – The UAB women’s basketball team heads to New Orleans to face Colorado and Texas Southern in Tulane’s Classic this weekend.
The Blazers will face Colorado on Friday and Texas Southern on Saturday with both games at 1 p.m. at Avron B. Fogelman Arena at Tulane.
UAB (6-3) is coming off a dominating performance against Alcorn State in which seniors Angela Vendrell, Rachael Childress and Katelynn Thomas led the way for the Blazers on offense and defense. Vendrell was named C-USA Player of the Week after recording a triple-double with 10 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists. Childress led the team with 25 points, including six made threes, and was lights out, shooting 80 percent from the field. Thomas took control of the second half, putting up a season high 23 points with seven rebounds and one block.
Colorado (9-0) is unbeaten so far this season with its best start since 2016-17. The Buffaloes are averaging 72.9 points per game while only allowing 56.4 points per game from their opponents. Mya Hollingshed leads the team in points per game with 13.1 but has only played in seven of the nine games. Sophomore guard Emma Clarke is averaging 12.7 points with a team leading 11 blocks and has started every game this season. The Buffs are a strong defensive team scoring 20.2 points per game off turnovers with 10.3 steals and 5.2 blocks per game.
Texas Southern (3-5) has faced a difficult schedule to open the season. The Tigers faced then No. 1 Oregon in the second game of the season and most recently fell to No. 17 Gonzaga. However, TSU defeated C-USA favorite Rice earlier this month 63-56. Though they are averaging below 60 points per game they have 12.5 steals per game which is 15th in the nation. Two Tigers are in the top-10 in the country in steals: Ciani Cryor leads the team with 32 steals (4.0 per game) which ranks fifth nationally meanwhile Niya Mitchell has 30 of her own (3.8 per game) which is eighth best.
“We are very excited to be in New Orleans to compete in the Tulane Classic,” said head coach Randy Norton. “This is a great opportunity to play two excellent teams heading into the holiday break. We encourage Blazer fans coming into town for the football team to stop by and cheer our team on.”
UAB has never faced Colorado and has only met up with Texas Southern once. The Blazers defeated TSU 79-72 in the two teams’ only meeting back in 1982.
Blazer fans who are attending the New Orleans Bowl are encouraged to come to both women’s basketball games. Tickets can be purchased for $5 on tulanegreenwave.com or onsite at Avron B. Fogelman Arena on Tulane’s campus. Tulane is located less than four miles from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Secure your women’s basketball season tickets by purchasing the 2019-20 Gold Card for $65 here. The Gold Card is an exclusive offer that grants you admission into all women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball events for the upcoming academic year. Contact the UAB Ticket Office at (205) 975-UAB1 for more details.
For more information on the UAB women’s basketball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_WBB) and Instagram (UAB_WBBall).
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