Fourth Quarter Surge Leads UAB Past WKU in C-USA Second Round 74-62

FRISCO, Texas – Kylee Schneringer scored seven of her career-high 17 points in the 4^th quarter as UAB advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 2022 Heritage Landscape Supply Group C-USA Basketball Championships after its 74-62 victory over WKU on Wednesday afternoon.

Margaret Whitley added 16 points, Destinee McGhee scored 15 with eight rebounds off the bench and Zakyia Weathersby had 10 for the Blazers (16-14).

Alexis Mead scored a game-high 18 points and Jaylin Foster had 16 for WKU (18-12).

Whitley opened the game with back-to-back 3-pointers and would see their lead get as many as nine points at 35-26 with 3:49 remaining in the 2^nd quarter. The Lady Tops would cut their deficit to just three points at 38-35 heading into halftime.

A McGhee layup at 6:31 of the 3^rd quarter gave UAB its first double-digit lead at 49-39. However, WKU would score the next 13 points to take its first lead of the game at 52-49 at the 2:15 mark. A pair of Mead free throws put the Lady Toppers up 54-52 heading into the 4^th quarter.

With WKU up 58-54, Claudia Armato’s basket started a 17-3 run that made the score 71-61 with 2:15 remaining. Whitley’s fourth 3-pointer of the game was the final basket of the game which iced the contest.

“We’re extremely excited that we get to play again tomorrow,” said head coach Randy Norton. “Everything really came together today, everybody stepped up and when it got to winning time, they were not going to go down without a fight.”

The Blazers will advance to the quarterfinal round and will take on LA Tech (19-10) Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The contest will stream live on Stadium. The winner will face the winner of Southern Miss/Middle Tennessee on Friday afternoon at 7 p.m.

NOTES

Schneringer’s previous career-high was 15 points against Marshall on Jan. 29
The Blazers outscored the Lady Tops 22-8 in the 4^th quarter
This was UAB’s first-ever win over WKU in the C-USA Championship – the teams played once before in the 2018 tournament
Armato’s father traveled from Melbourne, Australia and surprised her on Monday during the team’s meeting