University of Houston Athletics
Women's Basketball Plays Host to UAB on Sunday
1/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2012
| UAB (12-3 • 3-0) at Houston (2-13 • 1-2) | |
|---|---|
| Time | 2 p.m. • Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 |
| Location | Hofheinz Pavilion (8,479) • Houston |
| Tickets | Ticket Information |
| Series History | Houston leads, 11-10 |
| Last Time | Houston 74, UAB 65 (1/20/11) |
| Radio | Listen Live Houston Sports Network online broadcast powered by Stretch Internet Gerald Sanchez, (play-by-play), Louis Ray (Color) |
| Live Video | UH All Access |
| Live Stats | |
| Game Notes | Houston Notes  Conference USA Notebook |
| Social Media |  Facebook •  Twitter |
HOUSTON - The University of Houston women's basketball team returns to Hofheinz Pavilion to play host to a red hot UAB squad at 2 p.m., on Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars have begun to click as a team, claiming a road victory at Southern Miss on Jan. 8 before suffering a late scoring drought at SMU to fall to the Mustangs on Thursday night.
Houston whittled a 15-point second-half deficit to five points with 12:08 left to play and stayed within striking distance of the Mustangs before managing to score only two points in the final 5:18 of the contest.
Senior guard Roxana Button led the Cougars with 21 points, while freshman forward Amanda Lawson scored in double figures for the second-straight game with 15 points and senior guard Michelle White added 10 in the loss.
Button continues to lead Conference USA with 19.5 points per game, which ranks 21st nationally. Button has scored 20 or more points in a league-leading nine games this season.
ABOUT UAB
UAB travels to Houston as one of the hottest teams in Conference USA, winning 11 of its last 12 contests to improve to 12-3 overall and a perfect 3-0 in league play. The Blazers are a deep and veteran team with just three underclassmen on the roster.
The Blazers are averaging only 57.5 points per game but are plus-10.1 points in scoring margin, posting C-USA's top scoring defense with just 47.4 points allowed per contest. UAB has forced 19.4 turnovers to just 14.8 Blazer miscues and averages 10.1 steals and a league-leading 5.6 blocks per game. The Blazers set a school record in Thursday's win over UCF, swatting 12 shots.
Amber Jones (13.9 ppg), Karisma Chapman (13.8 ppg) and LaShaunda Pratt (11.4 ppg) are all scoring in double figures, while four Blazers all rank among the top shot blockers in C-USA. Jones and Pratt have combined to drain 54 3-pointers at a 36-percent clip to pace the league's top 3-point shooting team (5.8 3-pointers per game).
SERIES HISTORY
Houston and UAB meet for the 22nd time in the series history dating back to the 1989-90 season, as the Cougars hold a slim 11-10 advantage. The two schools have only met once outside of Conference USA play.
The Cougars overcame an eight-point halftime deficit to top UAB by a score of 74-65 last season in Birmingham for Houston's fourth win in the past five games against the Blazers. Porsche Landry tallied 19 of her 24 points in the second half while seniors Courtney Taylor and Brittney Scott set Houston career records in rebounding and 3-pointers, respectively.
BUTTON CLOSING IN ON 1,000-POINT CLUB
Entering the 2011-12 season, few would have thought that senior guard Roxana Button would get the opportunity to become the school's 22nd member of the 1,000-point club, but with the loss of six seniors from a year ago and a rash of injuries, Button has been depended on to create offense and has lit up the scoreboard to the tune of 19.5 points per game through the opening 15 contests.
Button entered the season with 653 points at an average of 7.0 points per game, and has already tallied 293 points for a career total of 946. Button has scored in double figures in all 15 games this season, surpassing her previous career high of four-straight double-digit performances.
The Coppell, Texas, native joined the school's 30-point club against Yale on Nov. 25, and matched her career high with 30 points at UTSA on Dec. 4. Button leads the league in scoring (19.5 ppg), 30-point performances (2) and 20-point performances (9) after entering the season having scored 20 or more points only once in her career.
