Jan. 18, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - The UCF women's basketball team hits the road for the third time in four games when it travels to Houston to face Rice on Sunday. Tip-off in Sharp Gymnasium is slated for 3 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on UCFAthletics.com with Scott Adams.
The Knights (7-10, 0-4 Conference USA) are coming off a 74-61 loss at home to Houston on Thursday evening. Freshman forward Emma Cannon (Rochester, N.Y) led UCF with 20 points and tied her career high with 15 rebounds to mark her eighth-double double of the season. Freshman guard D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta) followed in the scoring column with 11 points, while freshman forward Tia Lewis (Poulan, Ga.) finished with 15 boards and seven points.
Lewis leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.1 ppg, while ranking second in the nation in rebounding with 12.5 boards per game. She ranks 13th in the league in scoring and first in C-USA in rebounding. Cannon follows in the scoring column with 11.3 ppg, while freshman guard Marshay White (Rochester, N.Y.) and Daniels each add 10.5 ppg. Cannon is the team's second-leading rebounder with 9.6 rpg.
"We are looking to see a better effort on the defensive end on Sunday," UCF head coach Joi Williams said. "What we have to learn to do is put everything together. We seem to get one thing fixed and then something else breaks down. I think when we can get it all together and have everything solid, we will be a very good basketball team. We are a young team, but we have to come to play. We really feel like our chances are great if we will mature that next step very quickly and learn to put things together."
As a team, UCF ranks first in Conference USA in rebounding offense with 44.3 rpg, while also leading the league in rebound margin with a +8.8 edge on the boards. The Knights are tops in C-USA in defensive rebounds with 28.76 rpg on the defensive end.
The Knights and Owls meet for the third time in school history with Rice holding a 2-0 advantage in the all-time series. Rice won a 66-52 decision in Houston on Jan. 8, 2006, the first time the two teams met. The Owls then took a 75-57 decision from UCF at the UCF Arena on Feb. 11, 2007.
Rice, which has lost seven of its last 10 games, snapped a five-game losing streak on Thursday evening when it picked up its first Conference USA victory of the season with a 64-58 win at Southern Miss. The Owls enter Sunday's game with an 8-10 record overall, including a 1-3 mark in C-USA play.
Rice, a team that has been hampered with injuries for much of the season, has been without the services of the team's leading scorer - Valeriya Berezhynska, who averaged 16.7 ppg and 8.7 rpg. Senior guard Kadie Riverin is averaging 12.6 ppg, while junior Maudess Fulton follows with 9.7 ppg. Senior forward Tiffany Loggins brings down 5.0 rebounds per game.
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