March 6, 2008

C-USA Tournament Notes | Gametracker | Watch & Listen Live

ORLANDO, Fla. - The UAB women's basketball team will open play at the Conference USA Tournament Friday when it takes on the Marshall Thundering Herd in a quarterfinal matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET at the UCF Arena.

The third-seeded Blazers earned a first round bye in the tournament after earning a 10-6 record in league play and a 14-15 overall mark in the regular season. No. 6 Marshall (16-15, 6-8) advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating No. 11 Tulane, 65-58, Thursday in an opening round game.

Friday's game will mark the seventh meeting between the two programs all-time and the third meeting this season. UAB holds a 5-2 advantage in the all-time series, including a pair of wins over the Thundering Herd this year.

UAB is led by first-team All-C-USA member, senior guard/forward Diamond Rogers. Rogers paces the Blazers in points (16.7 ppg), rebounds (8.3 rpg), assists (3.3 apg) and blocks (16).

Junior guard Britney Jones adds 12.6 ppg for UAB, while leading the team and ranking fifth in C-USA in steals with 2.7 spg. Freshman guard Amanda Peterson, a member of C-USA's All-Freshman squad and the league's Sixth Player of the Year, comes off the bench and gives the Blazers 8.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.

Marshall is led on the floor by senior guard Kizzy Hart, 14.4 points per contest and 4.1 boards per game. Junior guard Casey Baker adds 11.8 ppg , 4.7 rpg and team-high numbers in both assists (4.1 apg) and steals (3.2 spg).

UAB is searching for its first-ever Conference USA Tournament Championship. The Blazers have advanced to the championship game one time, falling to Tulane 73-70 in 2000, but have never won the tournament title.