Still vying for a first-round bye in the Conference USA Tournament, the Mustangs defeated the University of Alabama Birmingham 81-51, Sunday afternoon in Moody Coliseum.a
With the win, SMU is now in a tie with the University of Central Florida for second place in conference polls. Southern Miss continues to occupy the top spot at 17-8 and 10-2.
Looking to get back on a winning streak after dropping a pair of losses to Southern Miss, followed by the University of Central Florida, SMU now stands at 16-9 and 9-3 with just two weeks remaining in conference play.
“Those two losses really helped motivate us to bond as a team and get our stuff together because we don’t want to lose anymore,” said junior Jillian Samuels. “I’m just excited to get back to playing together as a team.”
Three Mustangs posted double figure scores with SMU’s leading scorer, junior Brittney Gilliam recording a game high 13 points. Samuels added 12 points, and for the eighth game this season had three or more successful shots from long range.
“Today was extremely important,” said head coach Rhonda Rompola. “We hadn’t had a game like this all year. What I liked the most was we followed up in the second half.”
Freshman Heidi Brandenburg saw her best game at SMU, with new career highs in points (ten), a game-high two blocked shots, five rebounds, three field goals and four three throws.
SMU quickly gained a dominant lead, going on an 18-4 run in the first ten minutes of play. Going up by as much as 22 points in the closing seconds before the buzzer, SMU’s bench had already added 19 points with the help of freshmen Christina Elliott, Morgan Shell, Alicia Mitcham, Samantha Mahnesmith and Brandenburg.
“It was nice to see them out there finishing the game and it was nice to rest our starters a lot today,” said Rompola.
Up 41 to 19 at the half, the Mustangs allowed the Blazers to shoot just 26 percent from the field and 2-9 in three’s. Despite hitting only 3-9 in three’s, the Mustangs managed to improve their free throw shooting to 80 percent, something Rompola has stressed as a key element in winning games.
In the second half, SMU pulled ahead by a game-high 39 points with 3:34 remaining. Holding conference’s leading scorer, Britney Jones to just 11 points, UAB’s Tamika Dukes was held to eight points, going out of the game in the first half with an injury.
At the final buzzer, SMU’s bench had added 37 points, with all active players on the court scoring at least once. SMU allowed just 12 turnovers compared to UAB’s 20, and pulled down 39 boards.
The Mustangs wrap up the season with road games against Houston (16-8, 8-4) and Rice (6-19, 1-11) on Friday and Sunday followed by home games against Tulane (14-12, 6-6) and UTEP (15-10, 8-4) next week.
