Dec. 2, 2005
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ORLANDO- The UCF women's basketball team (1-4) will try to break a four-game losing slide when the Golden Knights visit Florida State (4-1) on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip-off at Tucker Civic Center. The game is scheduled to be televised by Sun Sports and broadcast on internet radio at www.ucfathletics.com.
The Golden Knights are coming off a disappointing three-game road trip in California, where they dropped all three contests. They capped off the journey on Monday night when they lost to host Santa Clara, 80-63, despite an early 14-point lead in the first half. Junior Juliana Gomes recorded her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the effort.
SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE... The Seminoles entered the weekend with a 4-1 record and a three-game winning streak. Thanks to its recent success, FSU is currently among the teams receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls.
Last weekend, Florida State won the Seminole Classic beating Western Carolina (75-67) and Montana (69-56). Freshman center Brittany Miller earned tournament MVP honors after averaging 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds. Through five games, she tops the Seminoles stat sheet with 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per outing.
Prior to facing UCF on Sunday, FSU meets Mississippi State on Friday night in Tallahassee.
THE SERIES VS. FLORIDA STATE... Sunday marks the 13th meeting between the in-state rivals with FSU holding a 10-2 lead. The two schools last met in December 2003 in Orlando when the Seminoles beat UCF, 72-59. The Golden Knights last win was a 93-76 decision during the 1984-85 season.
HOUSTON ROCKET... Junior guard Francine Houston has stepped up to lead the UCF offense early in the season. She was the team's leading scorer in each of the first five games and tops the stat sheet with 20.4 points per game.
In two games against Butler and Princeton in the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic, Houston averaged 23 points and earned all-tournament team honors for her efforts. Against the Tigers, she went 7-for-10 (70%) from behind the arc to tie UCF's record for most three-pointers made in a single game. She also sank 23 points at Santa Clara on Nov. 28.
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 11 of them for the first time in program history. Among them are six Conference USA rivals (Houston, Rice, East Carolina, Memphis, Tulsa and SMU) as well as opponents Princeton and Santa Clara.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE... Two Golden Knights have already recorded double-doubles early in the 2005-06 season. Senior forward Shelby Weber posted her third career double-double when she scored 14 points and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds against Butler in the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25.
Not to be outdone by her teammate, junior forward Juliana Gomes earned the first double-double of her career three days later as she had a career night with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Santa Clara.
SMITH LENDS A HAND... After recording 22 assists in five games thus far this season, Shayla Smith continues to move up the ranks of UCF's career assists leaders. The senior point guard currently boasts 241, an effort that puts her in sixth place on list. Her next hurdle is Brinda Green's fifth place mark of 257 assists.
COMING OUT OF HER SHELL... Named one of Conference USA's Players to Watch, senior forward Shelby Weber is certainly proving that the moniker was well-earned as she has already begun to make a mark this year. Weber currently leads UCF on the boards, averaging 7.6 rebounds per game and is just shy of averaging double figures in scoring at 9.4 points per outing.
Pulling down a team-high 6.7 boards a contest last season, she also averaged 5.4 points and started 28 of 29 games.
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.
Gomes has started the last three contests and is averaging 5.6 points and five rebounds per contest.
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 flew to Northern California, where it spent Thanksgiving in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic then took 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, then head to Alabama to visit former A-Sun rival Troy on Dec. 11.
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.
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.
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.