Jan. 25, 2006
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ORLANDO- After enjoying a four-game homestand, the UCF women's basketball team (4-14, 2-5 Conference USA) returns to the road for four games against league rivals. The Golden Knights are hoping to halt a two-game slide and earn their first road win of the season when they visit Memphis (2-15, 0-6 C-USA) for an 8 p.m. ET tip-off on Friday before bussing to UAB (9-8, 2-4 C-USA) for a 3 p.m. game on Sunday. The following weekend the team travels to Southern Miss and Tulsa in its only Saturday-Monday schedule of the 2006 conference campaign.
SCOUTING MEMPHIS... After earning a ranking of eighth in the C-USA Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Lady Tigers have yet to win a conference game and currently sit in 12th in the league standings at 0-6. They also have a 2-15 overall mark. The team has a scoring margin of minus-22 after giving up a league-high 81.4 points a game, while scoring 59.4.
Despite their record, the Lady Tigers have three players averaging in double figures on the scoreboard, including freshman guard Paris Leonard. She currently ranks ninth in the conference with 14.6 points per game, while junior guard Devin Necaise is 15th (13.1 ppg) and senior guard Tamika Butler sits in 20th (11.4 ppg).
Necaise led all players with 21 points in Memphis' recent 74-58 loss at Tulane on Jan. 22.
THE SERIES VS. MEMPHIS... The Golden Knights are meeting the Lady Tigers for the first time on the hardwood.
COACHING CONNECTION... UCF head coach Gail Striegler was a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas from 1990-91 during Memphis head coach Blair Savage-Lansden's sophomore season. That year the Lady Razorbacks finished with a 28-4 record en route to winning both the Southwest Conference regular season and tournament titles. The team advanced as far as the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
SCOUTING UAB... Entering the weekend with a 9-8 overall record and a 2-4 mark in conference play, the Blazers are eighth in the C-USA standings. In their most recent outing on Jan. 22, junior guard Carmen Guzman scored a team-high 26 points, including 13 of 18 from the free throw line, in a 72-69 loss at UTEP.
Guzman, a former conference player of the week, leads all UAB players and is tied for sixth in C-USA with 15.3 points per game. Also averaging in double figures on the scoreboard are junior guard Crystal McFadden (13.9) and freshman guard Britney Jones (11.0).
THE SERIES VS. UAB... In five meetings prior to Sunday's match-up, the Blazers own a 4-1 record over the Golden Knights. The most recent occasion was on Dec. 19, 1991 when UAB handed UCF a 75-57 loss. The Golden Knights only win, a 89-82 decision, came in January 1989.
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 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 and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field with a team-high 15 points against East Carolina on Jan. 22.
Her efforts have earned a starting role in five of the seven league games. She averages a team-high11.3 points per conference contest. She also ranks sixth in overall UCF scoring with 5.8 points per game.
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.
Among her other highlights during 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.
She leads the team in assists with 79 and is listed sixth among C-USA players with 4.39 helpers per outing. Elsewhere on the court, she is third on UCF with 8.0 points per conference game, while she is fourth in overall points per contest with 7.4.
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 131 boards this year, she now has 521. She needs 21 more boards to crack the program's all-time career rebounding list. Christine Strahl currently sits at No. 10 with 542 to her credit.
Weber became the third athlete in two years to eclipse the 500-rebound mark as both Ali Roberts and Takira Allen reached the milestone during the 2004-05 season. Of those 15 athletes that have accomplished the feat, six have done so during Coach Gail Striegler's tenure.
Weber has led UCF on the boards in 12 of 18 contests this season. She tops the team and is ninth in the conference with an average of 7.3 rebounds per game.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE VISION... Three Golden Knights have recorded double-doubles during the 2005-06 season.
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. After scoring a career-high 18 points at Troy on Dec. 11, the senior guard recorded a career-best eight assists against Marshall on Jan. 20. She is currently third on the team, averaging 7.5 points per game.
Smith has also made her presence known in the conference rankings as she is second among all C-USA players in assist/turnover ratio (2.24) and is tied for 11th with 3.29 assists pre game.
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 79 helpers to her 194 from the previous three years, King sits in sixth with 273.
Prior to the start of this season, Smith appeared on the list in ninth with 219 assists. With 56 assists this season, she now has 275 during her career and has moved to fifth place all-time at UCF.
Currently, Marcie Swilley is in fourth place with 326 assists.
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 13.8 points per game. Through games of Jan 22, Houston was 12th in the conference in scoring, while she led all players in three-point field goals made (3.06).
For the second time this year, Houston tied the school record for most three-pointers in a game when she went 7-for-16 from behind the arc against Marshall on Jan. 20. She first met the mark going 7-for-10 on Nov. 26 against Princeton.
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.
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 10 of the 17 contests she has played this season and is averaging 4.7 points and 2.8 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.
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.