March 7, 2008

Box Score

ORLANDO, Fla. - Kizzy Hart hit a jumper with just one second remaining to send the Thundering Herd into the semifinals of the 2008 Conference USA Tournament in Orlando.

With the game tied at 69 with under ten seconds left in overtime, Hart connected on a jumper just beyond the foul line to give Marshall (17-15) a 71-69 win over the UAB Blazers (14-16).

With the win, Marshall advances to Saturday's semifinals against SMU, who entered the tournament as the second seed. They will square off at 3 p.m. and the game will be televised on CSTV.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle, with the score being tied on seven different occasions with neither team leading by more than four points. Marshall grabbed a quick 2-0 lead after Casey Baker scored on the opening tip while UAB's first lead of the game came two minutes in when a three by Britney Jones gave the Blazers a 5-4 advantage.

After swapping the lead over the next eight minutes, the Herd found itself with a 16-12 advantage after a bucket by Alix Barnette. Five points over a 33-second span put the Blazers back up 17-16 with 9:40 left in the half.

The head-to-head battle continued as neither team led by more than two for the rest of the half. With the game tied at 24, a jumper by Meagan Samis inside the final minute gave the Herd a 26-24 lead heading into the locker room.

Both teams struggled from the field in the first half, with MU shooting 29% and UAB shooting 31%. That all changed early in the second half. Marshall opened up the half on a 17-10 run to open up a nine-point lead, the largest advantage for either team in the game. Alyssa Hammond was responsible for seven of those points while a three by Kizzy Hart capped off the run.

Two-straight treys by the Blazers cut the Marshall lead to three, 43-40, just seconds later. The Herd was able to stretch its lead back to six points, 53-47, after seven-straight points from Baker with 9:34 remaining in the contest. After the Blazers cut the lead back to two, Chantelle Handy and Tynikki Crook took over, scoring the next eight Marshall points as MU took a 61-55 lead with five minutes remaining.

Six points from Britney Jones helped UAB come back to tie the game at 62 with just over two minutes left. On the next MU possession, a foul sent Tynikki Crook to the line where she would connect on both attempts to put the Herd back on top by two. With under a minute remaining, a foul sent Diamond Rogers to the line where she would hit both shots to send the game into overtime.

Points came at a premium in the extra period. Baskets by Crook and Handy gave the Herd a two-point lead two minutes in before a three by Fatiha Salaam put UAB within a point. With 18 second left in overtime, Kizzy Hart hit her second free throw attempt to put Marshall back up by two. Just eight seconds later, a foul sent UAB's Rogers back to the line, who once again hit both attempts to tie the score.

On the final trip down the floor, Hart took it all the way and with a second remaining, hit a jumper beyond the foul line to send the Herd into the semifinals of the tournament.

Hart led Marshall with 18 points while also notching seven rebounds. For the second-straight game, Tynikki Crook recorded a double-double, finishing with 13 points and a game-high 10 boards. Alyssa Hammond and Baker had 13 and 12 points, respectively.

UAB was led by a 23-point performance from Diamond Rogers, who did most of her scoring in the latter half, notching 18 points. Britney Jones scored 17 points and tallied five steals.

Marshall finished with a solid rebounding advantage, 49-40, including 19-9 on the offensive glass and also cut its turnovers down from the opening game against Tulane. After turning the ball over 23 times against the Green Wave, the Herd finished with 15 against UAB.

Marshall will face No. 2 seed SMU at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at the UCF Arena. The game will be televised on CSTV and will also be streamed at ConferenceUSA.cstv.com.