Conference USA

UAB toppled Charlotte in the Queen City to secure an upset win over one of the league’s top programs. The Blazers outscored the 49ers 34-16 in the fourth quarter behind the efforts of junior Keonna Farmer, who paced her squad with 17 in the frame. UAB (5-7, 12-11) moved up to ninth place in the Conference USA standings. 

Middle Tennessee handled Old Dominion on the road to catapult itself into sole possession of first place in C-USA. With the Charlotte loss and WKU on a bye, the Lady Raiders seized the top spot in the standings with six games remaining. 

Capsules from each of tonight's contests as well as updated standings, statistics and results can be found below.

C-USA Standings (PDF)
C-USA Statistics (PDF)
C-USA Only Statistics (PDF)
Interactive Stats (Desktop)

Today’s Results

UAB 88 at Charlotte 81
A monstrous fourth quarter completed UAB’s 88-81 comeback on the road at C-USA leader Charlotte. Redshirt junior Keonna Farmer led a quartet of Blazers in double figures as she paced the offense with 20 points, 17 coming in the fourth quarter alone. As a team, the Blazers hit seven 3-pointers, totaling 175 made triples this season. The team’s combined 175 3-pointers ranks eighth in the UAB record book for 3-point made field goals in a single and season and they need one more to move into sixth place.

Middle Tennessee 80 at Old Dominion 63
The Lady Raiders’ win, coupled with Charlotte’s loss to UAB, and enabled them to move one game in front of Charlotte and one-half game in front of WKU, which was idle Thursday. Middle Tennessee (15-8, 10-2) won its fourth straight. Alex Johnson and Ty Petty combined for 52 points to lead Middle Tennessee but the duo was far from a two-player wrecking crew. Johnson delivered a double-double with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds, while Petty finished with 24 points, six assists and three steals.
Middle Tennessee HC Rick Insell:
“This was a big, big road win against a quality ODU team,” Middle Tennessee Head Coach Rick Insell said. “(Johnson and Petty) were outstanding but let me assure you this was a team win in every sense of the word. We needed the contributions from all of the players to secure this important road win.”

at Southern Miss 74, UTSA 71
Southern Miss controlled the contest for much of the game, being up by as many as 16, and led for over 35 minutes. The Roadrunners tied the contest up at 65 with 2:01 left in the fourth quarter. Freshman Shonte Hailes would break the tie on a three and the battle was on.
Southern Miss Assistant HC Kiley Hill: 
“Fortunately enough for us, [UTSA] struggled from the free throw line, just like we did, but Keri [Jewett-Giles] came up with some huge stops and Jayla [King] was absolutely incredible on the boards,” said assistant head coach Kiley Hill. “I think I played [Jayla King] almost 40 minutes. She kept looking at me saying, ‘I’m dying.’ I said, ‘Keep playing and you’ll die later.’ It was an opportunity for us to keep going and move forward. I thought it was a great team effort. We were able to attack the rim early and we made buckets.”

at Louisiana Tech 69, UTEP 61
Louisiana Tech sophomore Jasmine LeBlanc recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds – 7 offensive – while junior Alexus Malone added 14 points and eight rebounds and sophomore Reauna Cleaver chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds. Tech outrebounded the Miners 48-34. However, for just the third time in 23 games this season – two of the three coming against UTEP – the Lady Techsters shot less than 40 percent from the field. Tech hit just 22-of-60 attempts, including just 1-of-12 from beyond the arc.
LA Tech HC Brooke Stoehr: 
“I thought we really struggled to shoot the basketball,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “I thought we missed some easy shots and then we didn’t execute at times and were forced to take shots late in the shot clock. But the one thing we did all night was attack the glass. We won this game on the boards, and a lot of those (offensive rebounds) led us to the free throw line.”

at Rice 74, FIU 55
The Owls knocked down 10-of-23 attempts from beyond the three-point arc, which included an 8-of-12 (67 percent) performance in the second half. Redshirt sophomore guard Nicole Iademarco led Rice with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and a season-high five three-point makes. Junior guard Shani Rainey added 16 points while sophomore guard Lauren Grigsby scored 11 points off the bench to go along with a game-high five steals.
Rice HC Tina Langley: 
“This was a great team win,” Rice head coach Tina Langley said. “We played better on the defensive end of the floor tonight and I’m proud of the effort of everyone that came onto the court. I loved the way we shared the basketball. We had a really good assist-to-turnover ratio and everyone valued the basketball. We also took advantage of the opportunity on scoring off of turnovers, which is an area we’re working on.”

at North Texas 79, Florida Atlantic 57
North Texas built a nine-point first-quarter lead and padded it to double figures in the second period behind Terriell Bradley's 12 points in the opening half, then snuffed out Florida Atlantic's rally hopes with a third-quarter surge for a 79-57 victory. The Mean Green now sits in eighth place in the C-USA standings.
North Texas HC Jalie Mitchell:
"I think defensively we really buckled down, followed the game plan and did what we needed to do," North Texas coach Jalie Mitchell said. "Defensively our communication was excellent."
 
2016-17 C-USA Women's Basketball Media Guide