UTEP Prevails At UAB, 47-45, To Cap Tremendous 2011-12 Regular Season

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. ? Defense and rebounding powered UTEP to a 47-45 conquest of UAB in the 2011-12 regular-season finale for both squads at Bartow Arena Thursday evening. The Miners rolled to a record of 26-3, including a sparkling 15-1 in Conference USA action to secure their second league title in the past five years. The league winning percentage of .938 is the third best in C-USA history.

The game was tied at 28 with 15:35 to play before UTEP (26-3, 15-1 C-USA) used a 13-2 surge to take a lead it would never relinquish. The Blazers (18-10, 9-7) eventually whittled the advantage down to one (46-45) with 19 seconds left but a Gloria Brown free throw and steal from Jenzel Nash sealed UTEP?s single-season school-record-setting 11th road win (11-1).

Brown led all players with players with 14 points and nine rebounds, which helped the Miners out-rebound the Blazers, 47-42. Junior Kristine Vitola chipped in six points and eight boards while Nash had six points and two steals, with the latter preventing a potential game-winning three pointer for the home side.

UTEP connected on 32.7 percent (18-of-55) from the floor while going 8-of-16 at the free-throw line (50.0 percent), but it compensated for that by taking care of business on the glass and defending with tenacity.

UAB made just 26.8 percent (15-of-56) of its shots, and also struggled at the free-throw line (10-of-19). The Blazers had eight assists to 15 turnovers, which helped result in a 18-12 UTEP advantage in points off giveaways.

Karisma Chapman (13 points), Amber Jones (12 points) and LaShaundra Pratt (10 points) all reached double figures in scoring, but no other Blazer had more than six points.

The Miners will now rest up before turning their attention to the 2012 Conference USA Championships (March 7-10), where they will be the top seed at the vent. While the complete bracket with times will not be revealed until Saturday, the match-ups have been announced. They will be as follows, according to the C-USA league office.

(1) UTEP plays winner of (8) UCF vs. (9) Southern Miss

(2) Memphis plays winner of (7) Marshall vs. (10) SMU

(3) Tulane plays winner of (6) Tulsa vs. (11) East Carolina

(4) UAB plays winner of (5) Rice vs. (12) Houston

Source: UTEP Athletics