Jan. 19, 2006
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ORLANDO - After posting back-to-back wins last weekend, the UCF women's basketball team (4-12, 2-3 Conference USA) is looking to extend its winning streak when it hosts league leader Marshall (9-5, 4-0 C-USA) on Friday at 7 p.m. and East Carolina (10-5, 2-2 C-USA) on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Golden Knights are hot, coming off some of the best efforts of the season, including a 51-46 victory over UTEP in front of a record-breaking crowd of 1,182 fans last Sunday. This weekend's games cap off a four-game homestand for UCF as the team is back on the road for two consecutive weekends.
Tickets for both games are still available by calling (407) UCF-GOLD.
SCOUTING MARSHALL... Riding a four-game winning streak into Orlando, the Thundering Herd own an unblemished 4-0 mark in C-USA play and a 9-5 overall mark. The squad is also one of the top shooting teams in the league, hitting 42.7% (321 of 751) from the field.
A former conference player of the week honoree, senior guard Sikeetha Shephard-Hall recorded a game-high 18 points in the team's 75-64 win over Rice on Jan. 13 and currently ranks eighth in C-USA in points per game. Meanwhile, redshirt junior center Modupe Ishola, who is averaging 10 points per outing, is the top marksman as she has sank 57 of 85 attempts (67.1%) from the field.
THE SERIES VS. MARSHALL... Marshall and UCF met once prior to Friday's matchup. During the 1986-87 season, the Thundering Herd defeated the Golden Knights, 78-77, in Orlando.
COACHING CONNECTION... UCF head coach Gail Striegler served as an assistant under Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick for four years when he guided the women's basketball team at Stephen F. Austin. During that time, the Ladyjacks posted a 97-25 record and made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 in 1996.
SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA... The Pirates enter the weekend with 10-5 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the conference prior to visiting Southern Miss on Friday night. Among the reasons for their success is the play of junior center Cherie Mills, who is currently ranked second in C-USA with 17.7 points per contest and fourth with 8.1 rebounds per outing. She is also second in the league in field goal percentage at 57.1%. Most recently, she collected her sixth double-double of the season (14 points, 10 rebounds) in the 54-45 loss to Houston on Jan. 13.
Freshman guard Jasmine Young is the top pickpocket in C-USA with 50 steals, while she is third in assists per game (4.73).
THE SERIES VS. EAST CAROLINA... The Pirates and Golden Knights are meeting for the first time on the hardwood.
COACHING CONNECTION, PART TWO... Both UCF head coach Gail Striegler and East Carolina head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener are former Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year honorees. Striegler earned the award in 2003 and 2005, while Baldwin-Tener won in 2002 when she guided the Mercer Bears.
LONG ON EFFORT... Sophomore guard Amber Long has been making an impression on C-USA opponents. After pouring in a game-high 16 points against Southern Miss on New Year's Eve, she earned a starting role in the past three games and scored a career-high 18 points against Tulane on Jan. 13. Long also grabbed a career-high eight boards in the win over UTEP on Jan. 15.
Overall, Long is ranked sixth on the team with 5.6 points per game, while she averages a team-high 12.8 points per conference contest.
RETURN OF THE KING... Not to be outdone by Amber Long, LaShay King has also stepped up her game against league foes. The senior guard hit a three-pointer with 16 seconds remaining in regulation to give UCF the final advantage in the hard-fought win over UTEP on Jan. 15.
One of her other highlights of the current season was against Houston on Jan. 6, when she recorded her first career double-double with a career-best 15 points and 12 boards.
Overall, she leads the team in assists with 73 and is fourth in scoring with 7.4 points per contest. In conference games, she is second on UCF with 8.4 points per game.
JOINING AN ELITE CLUB... Senior forward Shelby Weber became a member of an elite club when she grabbed her 500th career rebound against Tulane on Jan. 13. The senior forward started the 2005-06 season with 390 career rebounds and after adding 111 boards this year, she now has 511.
Weber became the third athlete in two years to accomplish the feat as Ali Roberts and Takira Allen reached the milestone during the 2004-05 season. Of those athletes, six have done so during Coach Gail Striegler's tenure.
Weber has led UCF on the boards in 10 of 16 contests this season. She tops the team and is ninth in the conference with an average of 7.6 rebounds per game.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE VISION... Three Golden Knights have recorded double-doubles during the 2005-06 season and in fact, UCF players have posted double-doubles in five of the last six games.
Senior forward Shelby Weber has added four double-doubles to her two from last year for a career total of six. Her first double-double of the season came against Butler in the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic on Nov. 25 when she scored 14 points and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds. Weber added two consecutive double-doubles against Miami (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Quinnipiac (17 points, 10 rebounds) in December. Her most recent double-double came at Rice on Jan. 8 when she put up 15 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
During the previous game at Houston on Jan. 6, senior guard LaShay King earned her first career double-double with a season-high 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
Also posting the first of her career was junior forward Juliana Gomes, who accomplished the feat against Santa Clara on Nov. 28 when she had a career night with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
GOLD SMITH... Shayla Smith has made the most of her final season with the Black & Gold. The senior guard is currently third on the team, averaging 8.0 points per game. She also recorded a career-high 18 points at Troy Dec. 11. M ore than that, Smith has made her presence known in the conference rankings as she entered the weekend fourth among the league players in three-point field goal percentage (39.5%) and second in assist/turnover ratio (2.19).
LENDING A HAND... Senior guards Shayla Smith and LaShay King will each be leaving their mark on the UCF record books at the end of the season. Both are ranked on the school's list for most assists in a career. Adding a team-high 73 helpers to her 194 from the previous three years, King sits in fifth with 267.
Prior to the start of this season, Smith appeared on the list in ninth with 219 assists. With 46 assists this season, she now has 265 during her career and has moved to sixth place all-time at UCF.
Currently, Marcie Swilley is in fourth place with 326 assists.
Entering the weekend, King was tied for fourth among conference players with 4.56 assists per game, while Smith was 13th at 3.07.
HOUSTON ROCKET... Junior guard Francine Houston stepped up to lead the UCF offense early in the season and still remains atop the stat sheet with 13.3 points per game. Through games of Jan 16, Houston was 15th in the conference in scoring, while she was first in three-point field goals made (2.75).
Twice this season Houston has been recognized for her performance on the court. The first time was as a member of the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team. In two games against Butler and Princeton, she averaged 23 points. 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.
In December, Houston was also named to the UCF Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team. She recorded 14.5 points per game and went 10-for-10 from the foul line in contests against Central Michigan and UT-Arlington.
FOREIGN POLICY... Junior forward 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 eight of the 15 contests she has played this season and is averaging 4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds 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 West Virginia, Princeton, Santa Clara, Central Michigan and Quinnipiac.