BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Rachael Childress scored a game-high 26 points, including hitting 8-of-15 from three-point range, to help lead UAB to a 77-61 victory over the University of South Alabama women's basketball team in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT Friday at Bartow Arena.

Angela Vendrell added a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds as the Blazers shot 41.9 percent from beyond the arc and held a 54-40 advantage on the boards in their season debut.

Shaforia Kines paced the Jaguars — who fell to 0-2 on the year — with 14 points, with Jala Buster adding 11 points and Savannah Jones 10.  Antoinette Lewis posted 12 rebounds as well, but South was limited to a 31.1 field-goal percentage including making 6-of-27 attempts from three-point range.

UAB 77, South Alabama 61 (final stats)

GAME FACTS
-Both teams struggled from the floor in the opening period, but an 11-2 UAB run turned a five-point deficit into a 16-12 lead at the end of the quarter.
-The Blazers used a 13-2 spurt late in the second quarter to stretch the lead to as many as 17 points before going into the locker room up 42-28.
-The Jags outscored UAB in the third period, using a run of 13 unanswered points over a two-and-a-half minute stretch to trim the deficit to six with just over a minute to go.
-Childress sank a three at the 1:01 mark to end the run, and when Vendrell made a pair of layups in the opening minute of the fourth quarter the Blazers led by double digits the rest of the way.
-UAB shot 43.5 percent overall and hit 13 three-pointers in the contest.
-South forced 15 turnovers and finished with an 11-1 edge in points off miscues.

NOTES
-This is South's first appearance in the Preseason WNIT since the 2002-03 season.
-The Blazers have now won five straight contests in the series and hold a 30-14 edge overall since the teams first met in 1978.
-This was the first of two games for the Jaguars against Conference USA competition with a date at Southern Mississippi on Dec. 15 on the schedule as well.
-After being outscored in the paint by Rutgers in the season opener, South held a 28-18 edge in the category against UAB.
-With only nine turnovers, the Jaguars have had fewer than 10 in consecutive games since finishing with seven at Arkansas State and nine at Little Rock on Feb. 7 and 9 last season.
-It's the first time Kines has led the Jags in scoring in back-to-back outings since accomplishing the feat in the second and third rounds of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament last year.
-Buster finished with a career-high point total, surpassing her previous best of 10 recorded in a 97-40 victory over Faulkner on Dec. 17 last season.
-Lewis has now paced the team in rebounding in four straight games, the first time she has done that since turning the trick in four contests in a row from Feb. 7-16 last winter.
-It was the 46th time in her career that Jones has posted 10 or more points, most on the team.
-Devyn Lowe supplied eight points in just 14 minutes — accounting for all but two of South's bench points in the contest — which included sinking multiple three-pointers for the first time since going 2-of-4 from long distance against Little Rock in the Sun Belt Conference championship game last March.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Terry Fowler
Opening statement: "I thought we got off to a decent start and we were playing well, but we got into early foul trouble which forced us to use some makeshift lineups.  I was proud of the way we fought and came back in the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter.  I thought UAB just made some timely three-point shots — which kept pushing out their advantage — and they were able to finish the game out."
On how UAB broke open the game in the second quarter: "We missed some assignments and their shooters were able to get open.  We weren't able to get out and defend them in time, and they made shots."
On what the team did in the third quarter to get back in the game: "We were able to make stops, and I thought Devyn came in the game and gave us a big lift; they were helping off her and she was able to make some open shots.  Antoinette did a great job on the inside as well."

Up next: The Jaguars are scheduled to learn their next opponent and site in the Preseason WNIT on Sunday afternoon.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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