Nov. 22, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
ORLANDO - The UCF women's basketball team (1-1) travels West for a three-game road swing through Northern California. The Golden Knights start the journey at the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic in Moraga, opening the tournament against Butler on Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. They will meet either Princeton or host St. Mary's on Saturday.
UCF caps off the trip with a visit to Santa Clara for a 10 p.m. tip-off with the Broncos on Nov. 28.
The Golden Knights are coming off a 1-1 weekend at the UCF Golden Knights Classic as they earned a 62-54 comeback victory over Florida A&M and dropped a 77-63 decision to West Virginia.
SCOUTING BUTLER... The Bulldogs opened the season at Purdue, where they lost 85-59 to the Boilermakers. Two BU players recorded double figures in the game as Ellen Hamilton scored 19 and Jackie Closser added 10. Stephanie Boeke pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
Butler lost four players but returned four starters from the team that posted a 14-14 record a year ago.
THE SERIES VS. BUTLER... Butler holds a 2-0 advantage over the Golden Knights in the series history. The two teams last met in 1998-99 when the Bulldogs earned a 94-69 win.
SCOUTING PRINCETON... The Tigers made their season debut in a 58-46 loss at Saint Joseph's on Nov. 18 before taking on Lehigh at home four days later. Princeton is looking at a mix of players on the court with starters representing every class. Among them, senior Becky Brown and freshman Jessica Berry scored 15 and 10 points, respectively, and each grabbed a team-high seven rebounds against Saint Joseph's.
Last season, the Tigers went 13-14 overall and 5-9 to tie for fifth in the Ivy League.
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON... Should UCF square off against the Tigers on Saturday, it would be the first meeting between the two teams.
SCOUTING ST. MARY'S... The Gaels will be looking to bounce back from a 0-2 start when they host the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic this weekend. SMC opened the season with a 63-53 loss to Eastern Washington before dropping a 53-43 decision to Washington State.
Sophomore Monica Mertle, who sat out last season due to injury, leads the team as she has scored 10 points per outing, while her classmate Mija Lahde averages five rebounds a game.
Head coach Michelle Jacoby guided St. Mary's to a 15-3 record last season.
THE SERIES VS. ST. MARY'S... If the Golden Knights and Gaels meet on Saturday, it will mark the first time the two schools have challenged one another on the floor.
OPENING NIGHT SUCCESS... With the victory over FAMU, the Golden Knights improved to 5-2 in season openers since head coach Gail Striegler took the helm during the 1999-2000 season.
HOUSTON ROCKET... Junior guard Francine Houston has stepped up to lead the UCF offense early in the season. She is averaging 16.5 points per game after recording team-high against both Florida A&M (16) and West Virginia (17).
Last season, Houston finished the year as the Golden Knights' No. 3 scorer with 9.6 points per contest.
PERFECT STRANGERS... Of the 23 opponents on the 2005-06 schedule, UCF will be meeting 12 of them for the first time in program history. Among them are the two probable foes at this weekend's Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic - Princeton and St. Mary's - as well as six Conference USA rivals (Houston, Rice, East Carolina, Memphis, Tulsa and SMU).
CELESTIAL BEING... Senior guard Celeste Hudson is the Golden Knights top returning scorer after sinking 11.2 points per game last season. She was also second in rebounding a year ago, averaging 6.0 an outing.
The 2005 Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year, Hudson was selected as one of C-USA's "Players to Watch".
COMING OUT OF HER SHELL... Also named one of the conference's players to watch was senior forward Shelby Weber. It is a moniker well-earned as she has already begun to make a mark this year. Weber currently leads UCF, averaging 6.5 rebounds per game.
Pulling down a team-high 6.7 boards a contest last season, she also averaged 5.4 points and started 28 of 29 games. The Golden Knights will be looking for a breakout year from Weber as she will be one of the leaders in the paint.
FOREIGN POLICY... Junior center Juliana Gomes, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the first foreign-born player to don the Black & Gold jersey during head coach Gail Striegler's tenure. The last international members of the UCF women's basketball team were Scandinavians Anu Mahlamaeki, Vukko Timola and Frida Stromquist, who played during the 1997-98 season.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN... The Golden Knights will be logging some serious travel miles before returning to Orlando for the UCF Holiday Classic on Dec. 16. On Wednesday, the team flies to Northern California, where it will spend Thanksgiving in the San Francisco Bay Area. UCF plays Butler in the opening round of the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25 before facing either Princeton or host St. Mary's on Nov. 26. The Golden Knights also take on Santa Clara on Nov. 28 prior to returning home.
On Dec. 4, the Black & Gold visit Florida State for a 2 p.m. game that will be broadcast live on Sun Sports.
ON THE TUBE... UCF will have two games broadcast on television this season. The Dec. 4 match-up at Florida State is scheduled to be carried live at 2 p.m. by Sun Sports, while CSTV is set to broadcast UCF's Jan. 15 contest against UTEP, marking the first time that a Golden Knights' game will be nationally televised.
POLLING STATION... In its first season in Conference USA, UCF was chosen to finish sixth of 12 teams by the league coaches in the preseason poll. Rice was picked to capture the title with seven first place votes followed by crosstown rival Houston in second with five first place votes. SMU was third with Marshall and Tulsa rounding out the top five.