UAB women’s basketball had a dominant performance against Western Kentucky winning 86-70 and handing the Hilltoppers their first conference loss.
UAB (11-6) opened strong against the Hilltoppers, however WKU (14-5) quickly took the lead with a three-pointer by Macey Blevins.
WKU kept their lead throughout the first quarter due to strong performances by Alexis Mead and Mya Meredith.
The Blazers played an impressive second quarter, opening with back-to-back three pointers by Emily Klaczek. This gave them a four-point lead less than a minute into the second quarter. She furthered the Blazers’ lead with a layup and two more three-pointers that quarter.
Klaczek continued to dominate throughout the rest of the game. She scored 26 of the Blazers 86 points, which sets a new career high for her.
A strong offensive performance allowed the Blazers to end the first half with a nine-point lead, 40-31.
UAB continued a strong performance in the third quarter with baskets by Klaczek, Zakyia Weathersby, Margret Whitely and Kylee Schneringer who all scored in double digits during the game.
WKU scored to close the gap in the third quarter with three pointers by Blevins and Meral Abdelgawd, but they couldn’t catch up to the Blazers.
UAB scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, which proved their ability to play until the final buzzer.
UAB head coach Randy Norton said he is extremely proud of the way his team played and credits their success to a strong offensive performance.
“It was a great team win for us,” Norton said, “One of our biggest keys was to take care of the basketball. They were forcing teams into 23 turnovers a game and we played with 15 and that’s just a big part of our success tonight.”
UAB will take on Marshall in Bartow Arena Jan. 29. Tipoff is at 2:00pm.
