UTEP WBB Concludes Road Swing 0-2 After Loss at UAB

A poor first quarter shooting performance and the inability to slow down UAB on the perimeter led to the Miners' 63-51 loss in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon, finishing their latest road swing 0-2. UTEP, 12-8, 5-4 in C-USA, shot 8.3 percent, making only 1 of 12 attempts in the opening frame and were never able to fully recover en route to the loss.

The Blazers, who were riding a 5-game winning streak coming in to the contest are the second best 3-point shooting team in the country and displayed how lethal they are from downtown as they shot 43.5 percent from distance, (10-23) and 47.1 percent from the field, (25-51). UAB was led by senior Rachael Childress who is one of the top ten three-point shooters in the country, as she scored 26-points, converting 4 of 5 treys.

The Miners opened the fourth quarter with an 8-3 surge to trail by single digits (55-47), but that was as close as they would get as the Blazers' relentless scoring barrage continued until the very end. Senior Katarina Zec tallied 11 points to go along with 7 boards, and is just 1-point shy of 1,000 career points. Ariona Gill added 11 points and 6 boards, while Avery Crouse contributed with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

UTEP took good care of the ball with a season-low eight turnovers and also drilled 75.0 percent (12-16) at the charity stripe, but those weren’t enough to make up for shortcomings in other areas.

Following the game Coach Baker spoke of the Miners' slow start by saying, “We really defended well. We held them to 63, but as luck would have it, in the first half we couldn’t throw it in the ocean. That’s how it’s been for our team lately.”.

UTEP will head home for a pair of games next week as they will host Charlotte next Thursday at 7 p.m. on a game you can listen to on our ESPN2  secondary stream. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to raise awareness in the battle against breast cancer.