Feb. 16, 2006
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ORLANDO - The UCF women's basketball team (5-18, 3-9 Conference USA) brings its 2005-06 home schedule to a close this weekend when it hosts conference rivals UAB on Friday at 7 p.m. and Memphis on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Golden Knights split against the two teams on the road earlier this season, beating the Tigers before losing to the Blazers.
Sunday's home finale is also designated as Senior Day when UCF honors the careers of seniors LaShay King, Shayla Smith and Shelby Weber.
SCOUTING UAB... With a 6-6 league record and a 13-10 overall mark, the Blazers are among three teams jockeying for position in the middle of the Conference USA standings. UAB remains once of the strongest squads in C-USA offensively, scoring an average of 70.3 point an outing, and it also has the fourth best scoring margin at +1.2.
The Blazers boast three players in the conference top 20 scorers - junior Carmen Guzman (3rd-16.7 ppg), junior Crystal McFadden (10th-14.0 ppg) and freshman Britney Jones (17th-12.0 ppg).
THE SERIES VS. UAB... The Blazers and Golden Knights are meeting for the seventh time on Friday night. UAB owns a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series, including a 90-71 victory on Jan. 29 in Birmingham, Ala. With six players finishing in double figures, Britney Jones and Christon Ingram led the way with 16 points off the bench. Shelby Weber had a career-high 25 points in a near perfect game for the Golden Knights.
SCOUTING MEMPHIS... Despite winning their first C-USA win over UTEP on Feb. 6, the Tigers dropped decisions at East Carolina and Marshall a week ago and enter the weekend with a 1-11 conference record and a 3-20 overall mark. Memphis has three players averaging in double figures, including junior Devin Necaise (14.0 ppg) and freshman Paris Leonard (13.5 ppg), who are listed among the top 15 scorers in the league.
THE SERIES VS. MEMPHIS... In the first meeting between the two C-USA rivals on Jan. 27 in Memphis, Tenn., the Golden Knights emerged with a 65-54 win behind 15 points by Amber Long and 14 by Shelby Weber. Tamika Butler and Gresh Gorman each contributed 11 points to the Tigers' losing effort.
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 to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
ALMOST PERFECT... Senior Shelby Weber recorded a nearly perfect game when she scored a career-high 25 points at UAB. She sank eight of nine shots from the field with the only miss coming from behind-the-arc with 37 seconds remaining on the clock. She also went 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
SWEET CHARITY... After shooting a team-best 82% (41-of-50) from the foul line in 2004-05, Shelby Weber is well on her way to duplicating the feat as she has knocked down 84.2% (48 of 57) from the charity stripe this season. She is currently ranked sixth in the conference in the category, while her career shooting percentage of 76.8% (126-for-164) is fifth all-time at UCF.
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 10 of the 12 league games. She averages 10.1 points per conference contest, while she ranks sixth in overall UCF scoring with 6.3 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 51-46 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 currently leads the team in assists with 107 and is listed fifth among C-USA players with 4.65 helpers per outing. King needs 15 more to break into the school's top 10 for most assists in a season.
Elsewhere on the court, she is fifth on UCF with 6.4 points per conference game and fifth in overall points per contest with 6.7.
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. She started the season with 390 career rebounds and after adding 168 boards this year, she now has 558, which ranks ninth all-time at UCF. She needs five more to tie Susan Patz (1982-86) in eighth and 10 more to move into seventh place with Marcie Swilley. (1979-83).
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 14 of 23 contests this season. She tops the team and is eighth 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.
Shelby Weber has added five double-doubles to her two from last year for a career total of seven. 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. She has also posted double-doubles against C-USA foes Rice on Jan. 8 with 15 points and 13 rebounds and most recently, SMU on Feb. 10 with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, two Golden Knights earned the first double-doubles of their careers. During the Houston contest on Jan. 6, LaShay King recorded a season-high 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Junior forward Juliana Gomes 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 fourth on the team, averaging 7.0 points per game.
Smith has also made her presence known on the conference and national levels. She tops all C-USA players and is tied for 12th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.29). She is 11th with 3.23 assists per game.
LENDING A HAND... 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 107 helpers to her 194 from the previous three years, King sits in fifth with 301.
Prior to the start of this season, Smith appeared on the list in ninth with 219 assists. With 71 assists this season, she now has 290 during her career and has moved to sixth place all-time at UCF.
Currently, Marcie Swilley is in fourth place with 326 assists.
HOUSTON ROCKET... Francine Houston stepped up to lead the UCF offense early in the season and still remains atop the stat sheet with 12.8 points per game. She is currently 16th in the conference in scoring, while she led all players in three-point field goals made (2.83) and is fifth in three-point field goal percentage (36.3%).
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... Juliana Gomes, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the first foreign-born player to don a 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 13 of the 22 contests she has played this season and is averaging 4.3 points and 2.6 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 teams (Houston, Rice, East Carolina, Memphis, Tulsa and SMU) as well as West Virginia, Princeton, Santa Clara, Central Michigan and Quinnipiac.
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.