Feb. 28, 2007
Women's Basketball Notes at C-USA Championship in PDF Format
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ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - No. 11 seed UCF takes on No. 6 SMU in the first round of the 2007 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship at the University of Tulsa's Reynolds Center on Thursday, March 1. Tip-off is set for 9:30 p.m. ET.
Heading into the tournament, senior guard Francine Houston (Bradenton, Fla./Southeast HS) and senior forward Keunta Miles (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./South Broward HS) led UCF (8-21, 3-13 C-USA) on offense in a combined 23 of the team's 29 games. Houston sits atop the stat sheet, averaging 13.7 points per contest, while Miles is just below her with 11.8.
Making their debut in the C-USA Women's Basketball Championship in 2006, the Golden Knights were seeded No. 11 and drew No. 6 Tulane in the opening round. Despite getting a team-high 15 points from Houston and 10 each from Miles and Shelby Weber, UCF fell to the Green Wave, 69-52.
No. 6 SMU enters the tournament with a 17-11 overall record and 9-7 mark in conference play after earning a 68-58 win at UTEP on Feb. 24. Junior guard Katy Cobb scored a game-high 18 points, going 3-for-3 from three-point range and hitting 7-of-9 foul shots. As a team, SMU hit 43.6% from the field.
Junior center Janielle Dodds leads SMU and is ranked among the league's top ten in both scoring and rebounding as she averages 15.2 points and 7.4 boards per contest. Meanwhile, freshman forward Delisha Wills is sixth in C-USA with a field goal percentage of 46.3%.
The Mustangs have won both previous meetings between the two teams. On Feb. 1 at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas, SMU took a 73-47 victory behind 17 points each from Dodds and forward Brittany Gilliam. Houston had a team-high 11 points for UCF, while Miles added 10. Last season, the Mustangs earned a 69-57 victory at UCF Arena.
Should UCF beat SMU, the Golden Knights would advance to the quarterfinal round to take on No. 3 East Carolina on Friday, March 2 at 9:30 p.m. ET. The tournament continues with the semifinals on Saturday and concludes with the championship game on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET. Live video feeds of first round, quarterfinals and semifinals will be available on-line at conferenceusa.com, while the semifinals will also be carried by CSTV. The championship game will be broadcast live only by ESPN2.
For the latest news and information on the Golden Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF athletics.