MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The UAB women’s basketball team responded to its home loss to Middle Tennessee with a win on the road against the Blue Raiders Thursday night.
The Blazers dominated the boards pulling in 44 rebounds to Middle Tennessee’s 33, including 14 on the offensive end resulting in 17 second chance points. Rachael Childress led the Green and Gold with 16 points and six rebounds. Angela Vendrell tied a season high with 12 points. Sara Rosenfeldt scored a career high 10 points going 6-for-8 from the charity stripe while reeling in four rebounds and dishing out two assists.
UAB (17-9, 9-5 C-USA) set the tone early in the first jumping out on a 9-2 run with back-to-back threes from Childress and Vendrell. The Blazers shot 75.0 percent from the field in the first quarter to take an 18-10 lead after 10 minutes of play.
Middle Tennessee (17-9, 9-5 C-USA) responded in the second with a 10-2 run to start the quarter. The Blue Raiders shot 50.0 percent from the field and held the Blazers to just 10 second quarter points to lead by two at halftime.
The Blazers came out of halftime making four consecutive triples in the third quarter. UAB drained five from beyond the arc in the quarter with a pair from Margaret Whitley and one apiece from Vendrell, Childress and Sam Mitchell. The Green and Gold took a four-point lead into the final quarter of play.
Rosenfeldt opened the fourth quarter with the first four points for the Blazers after back-to-back layups. A three from Childress put UAB up by eight with six minutes remaining. The Blue Raiders hung around bringing the game within two with a little over a minute remaining following a three from Charity Savage. However, the Blazers held strong defensively to come away with the 61-59 road win.
“I’m really proud of our team’s grit and toughness tonight,” said head coach Randy Norton. “I thought our bench gave us a huge spark and actually went up by nine. Our rebounding and defense continue to improve every game.”
UAB shot below 40 percent for the fourth consecutive game but came up big on the glass against one of the best rebounding teams in the conference. Four different Blazers recorded five or more rebounds with Childress, Imani Johnson and Trista Magee each pulling in six and Vendrell grabbing five.
The Blazers have a quick turnaround as they prepare to host Rice on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Bartow Arena.
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).
# UAB #
