Nov. 8, 2008

Final Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Four players scored in double figures, led by senior guard Britney Jones with 17 points, as the UAB women's basketball team defeated Montevallo 74-45 in an exhibition game Saturday evening at Bartow Arena.

UAB dominated from the beginning, jumping out to a double-digit lead, 14-4, with 11:10 remaining in the first half on a three-point bucket by sophomore guard Amanda Peterson. The Blazers' biggest lead of the half came at the halftime buzzer when Jones hit a trey to give UAB a 34-15 edge at the break.

The Blazers continued to pull away from Montevallo in the second half when a layup by junior forward Erica Simpson with 17:28 left in the game put UAB ahead 41-15.

A layup by freshman forward/center TaRonda Randall with 7:33 left on the clock gave UAB its first 30-point lead of the game. The Blazers maintained a 30-point lead for most of the remainder of the game and eventually won by 29 points, 74-45.

"Tonight was good for us," said UAB head coach Audra Smith. "We got to get out there and play another team. It let us know where we stand a little bit. We saw some good things and we saw some things that we need to go back and work on.

"We had some players really step up and play well. We have a young team and it was good to see some younger players get some experience and do some good things tonight."

UAB shot 38.8 percent from the field for the game, including 44.1 percent in the second half. The Blazers also connected on 10-of-28 from three-point range (35.7 percent) and sunk 12-of-14 from the free throw line (85.7 percent).

Jones paced the Blazers with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. Jones also added seven rebounds and a team-best four assists on the night.

Peterson made a trio of three-point baskets to lead her to 13 points for UAB. Junior guard Fatiha Salaam tallied 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting and Simpson contributed 10 points against the Falcons.

Montevallo hit just 13.3 percent of its shots in the first period and ended the game shooting 20.6 percent overall. The Falcons put 26.3 percent of their three-pointers in the bucket and made 66.7 percent of their free throws.

Tiaren Young was Montevallo's lone player to score in double figures with 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Manal Cali led the Falcons in rebounds with eight, while also tallying two points.

The Blazers will open their regular-season schedule on Friday, Nov. 14 when they host Stetson at 12 p.m. at Bartow Arena.