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HomeSportsAustin Peay Lady Govs Basketball lose season opener to UAB 72-54

Austin Peay Lady Govs Basketball lose season opener to UAB 72-54

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Women’s Basketball

Austin Peay State University Lady GovsBirmingham, AL – Limiting turnovers and maximizing rebounds were two keys head coach Carrie Daniels stressed before Austin Peay women’s basketball team opened its season at UAB, but the Lady Govs were unable to heed that advice in a 72-54 loss at Bartow Arena, Friday afternoon.

Austin Peay Women's Basketball. (Courtesy: Brittney Sparn/APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Women’s Basketball. (Courtesy: Brittney Sparn/APSU Sports Information)

UAB (1-0) made it difficult to avoid the turnover-bug, applying the same defensive pressure that caused the Lady Govs so much trouble in their meetings the two previous seasons. That pressure led to 10 Austin Peay turnovers in the opening 10 minutes as UAB pushed to an 18-8 lead.

The Blazers lead would reach 14 points with 7:33 remaining, but Austin Peay freshman Tiasha Gray ended a four-minute scoring drought with a three-pointer. UAB responded in kind on its next possession, but Austin Peay would piece together an 8-2 run over the next 2:30 to cut the lead back to eight points, 27-19, with 3:47 left in the period.

Leslie MartinezSenior Leslie Martinez scored four points during that mini-run and would add another four points during the final 3:47 to end the half with a team-best 12 points. However, the Lady Govs would not get closer than eight points and ended the half trailing by 10 points, 33-23.

“We knew what to expect coming into the game,” said Daniels. “We knew they would pressure us and get after us (on defense) and we did not handle that pressure at all. We never could recover from that opening period. We would make a run but they would counter it.”

The second half was a see-saw battle over the opening 10 minutes with UAB pushing the lead out to 15 points twice only to have Austin Peay reel the lead back in to 11 points.

Meghan BussabargerThe Blazers would ultimately put the game safely away courtesy an 11-1 scoring run over a brief 2:13 span. UAB pushed its lead to 21 points, 60-39, as it scored on each of its five possessions during the burst while Austin Peay had a missed three-pointer and two turnovers.

Austin Peay (0-1) would again keep the lead from growing larger, but was unable to get an closer than 15 points after senior Meghan Bussabarger’s layup with 53 seconds remaining.

The Lady Govs would were charged an unsightly 29 turnovers in the loss which UAB converted into 32 points. Adding to those woes was the Lady Govs 42-24 rebounding deficit. The Blazers grabbed 21 offensive board alone, accounting for 20 second-chance points.

“I believe some of our turnover trouble was youth, we have a few freshman who played quite a few minutes,” said Daniels. “I do believe there is going to be some improvement and growth with that group. However, we had veteran players who started and they were a part of digging that hole. I don’t believe we weren’t ready to play from the get-go and that’s something we have be better at.”

After Martinez’ 12-point first half, she was held to one point in the second period and finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Tiasha GrayBussabarger picked up the slack with 14 second-half points and finished with 16 points. Gray added nine points, but struggled with eight turnovers off the bench.

Michaelea Kleist led UAB with 14 points and five steals, one of four players to score more than 10 points for the homestanding Blazers.

Austin Peay returns home and will get six days to prepare for a visit from nationally-ranked Louisville for a 7:00pm, Thursday contest at the Dunn Center.

Box Score

Austin Peay vs UAB
11/9/12 Noon CT at Birmingham, AL – Bartow Arena

 

Austin Peay 54

Total 3-point Rebounds
## Player p fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta off-def tot pf tp a to blk stl min
14 MARTINEZ, Leslie f 6-12 0-1 1-2 2-6 8 2 13 3 6 0 2 40
43 BUSSABARGER, Meghan f 7-14 0-2 2-3 1-2 3 2 16 0 1 0 1 35
42 HILL, Kaitlyn c 1-2 0-0 0-0 1-1 2 0 2 0 3 0 0 8
04 STAINBACK, Kristen g 2-6 1-4 0-0 0-1 1 0 5 1 1 1 2 21
05 OLSZEWSKI, Nicole g 0-2 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 6
01 GRAY, Tiasha 3-6 1-2 2-2 1-0 1 4 9 2 8 0 2 25
03 BULEY, Shira 0-0 0-0 0-2 0-1 1 1 0 1 3 0 1 12
21 NWOKOCHA, Jennifer 2-3 0-0 2-4 1-3 4 4 6 2 2 0 0 21
32 HARDAWAY, Alexis 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 15
44 OLSZEWSKI, Shelby 1-3 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 4 3 3 2 0 2 17
TM TEAM 2-2 4
Totals………….. 22-49 3-13 7-13 8-16 24 17 54 13 29 1 10 200
44.9% 23.1% 53.8%
Team summary: FG 3FG FT
1st Half: 11-20 1-6 0-0
55.0% 16.7% 0.0%
2nd Half: 11-29 2-7 7-13
37.9% 28.6% 53.8%

UAB 72

Total 3-point Rebounds
## Player p fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta off-def tot pf tp a to blk stl min
23 ANDERSON, Kayla f 5-7 0-0 3-5 4-1 5 1 13 1 0 0 1 22
24 CHAPMAN, Karisma f 5-11 1-3 0-0 2-4 6 1 11 2 5 0 4 20
25 KLEIST, Michaelea f 6-10 0-1 2-2 2-3 5 2 14 0 1 1 5 28
01 JONES, Amber g 4-12 0-3 4-9 3-1 4 1 12 2 2 0 4 21
11 WATSON, Khalilah g 0-2 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 2 0 3 2 0 3 21
03 BAUCOM, Essence 1-3 0-0 1-2 1-2 3 3 3 1 5 0 3 19
04 WEYNAND, Kelsie 1-3 1-3 2-2 1-0 1 0 5 0 2 0 0 7
15 WINBORNE, Brittany 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 6
21 BLACK, Chelsee 2-4 1-3 1-2 0-4 4 1 6 2 0 0 0 14
30 GRIMES, Ashley 3-6 0-1 0-0 3-1 4 0 6 3 3 0 0 21
41 WEBB, Dy’mann 1-1 0-0 0-2 2-2 4 3 2 0 1 0 0 21
TM TM 2-1 3 2
Totals………….. 28-59 3-14 13-24 21-21 42 15 72 14 24 1 21 200
47.5% 21.4% 54.2%
Team summary: FG 3FG FT
1st Half: 16-36 1-9 0-2
44.4% 11.1% 0.0%
2nd Half: 12-23 2-5 13-22
52.2% 40.0% 59.1%
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Austin Peay 23 31 54 Record: (0-0)
UAB 33 39 72 Record: (0-0)


Points in the paint-APSU 28,UAB 36. Points off turnovers-APSU 13,UAB 32.
2nd chance points-APSU 8,UAB 20. Fast break points-APSU 4,UAB 8.
Bench points-APSU 18,UAB 22. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-APSU 2nd-00:53, UAB 2nd-04:04.
Largest lead-APSU None, UAB by 21 2nd-08:21.
Officials: Shawn Goode, Sarah Billard and Craig Miller
Technical fouls: Austin Peay-None. UAB-None.
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