BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Middle Tennessee women's basketball (6-4) dropped a heartbreaker, 71-69, to UAB (4-4) Monday in the championship finals of the UAB Blazer Tournament. With 1.3 seconds remaining, the Blazers' Carmen Guzman hit a lay-up to give UAB the win. Middle Tennessee had the ball with 7.2 seconds remaining but a turnover by Chrissy Givens gave the Blazers the ball back and the chance for the winning shot.
UAB came out in the second half and went on a 19-10 run in the first 10 minutes to cut the Blue Raider lead to one, 54-53. A pair of three-pointers by Johnna Abney pushed the Blue Raider lead back to four but the Blazers' Guzman hit a trey of her own and Crystal McFadden hit a pair of free throws to trim the lead back to two with 7:53 remaining.
Guzman tied the game at 60 when she hit a jumper with two seconds remaining on the shot clock with 7:20 remaining. Middle Tennessee's Krystle Horton broke the tie when she hit a lay-up and was fouled, extending the lead to three, 65-62, when she made the old fashioned three-point play.
Middle Tennessee and UAB traded baskets and the Blue Raider's five-point lead was trimmed to three with five minutes remaining. With 4:20 left, McFadden was fouled and hit both free throws to cut Middle Tennessee's lead to one, 65-64.
Middle Tennessee shot a scorching 63 percent from the field in the first half. Givens was on fire in the first 20 minutes by hitting 7-of-8 shots from the field for 17 points.
The Blue Raiders committed 27 turnovers in the game and just couldn't seem to get a basket to fall in the second half.
Givens led all scorers with 25 points but suffered through 11 turnovers. Freshman Abney had a season-high 11 points and Stovall and Horton each had 10.
Middle Tennessee returns to action on Wednesday when the Blue Raiders host former Ohio Valley Conference foe Tennessee Tech. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in the Murphy Center.
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