Jan. 25, 2008
Box Score in PDF Format
Post-Game Notes
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Southern Miss jumped out to an early 21-3 advantage Friday and a late UCF rally came up short as the Knights fell 84-62 in Reed Green Coliseum.
The Knights (8-11, 1-5 Conference USA) were led by a trio of players who scored in double digits, including freshman forward Emma Cannon's (Rochester, N.Y.) team-high 12 points. Cannon continued to provide a strong spark off the bench for UCF, going 5-for-6 from the field and adding seven rebounds and three steals.
Freshman guard D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta) followed with 11 points, while freshman guard Marshay White (Rochester, N.Y.) added 10. Freshman forward Tia Lewis (Poulan, Ga.), the nation's second-leading rebounder, led UCF with a team-high eight boards.
UCF was out-rebounded for the first time in five games and for just the sixth time all season. The Lady Eagles won the battle of the boards, 43-36. The Knights committed 23 turnovers in the game and Southern Miss (11-8, 2-4 C-USA) scored 25 points off of those miscues.
"Defensively, we just didn't get stops tonight," UCF head coach Joi Williams said. "All week, we have talked about transition defense and at halftime, Southern Miss had 20 points in transition. You can't win ballgames on the road when you give up easy baskets. Southern Miss came out aggressive like they did in their first game with us and there should have been no surprises."
UCF trailed Southern Miss 65-43 with 10:51 remaining in the game before mounting a furious late-game comeback that included a 15-4 run to come as close as 11 points, 69-58, with 3:58 left, but the Knights could get no closer the rest of the way. The two teams were nearly even in the second half with Southern Miss out-scoring UCF 39-38 in the game's final period.
"We came down and tired to switch our defenses up," Williams said. "We just didn't get key defensive stops. When you get in a hole like that, you have to get consecutive defensive stops and then you have to come down and score. We can't get ourselves in that big of a hole, because that just puts too much pressure on our offense to try to come back."
Southern Miss scored the first eight points of the game and opened to a 21-3 advantage at the 11:51 mark of the first half. From there, Daniels knocked down three consecutive baskets and Chelsie Wiley (Riviera Beach, Fla.) sunk a three-pointer from the right wing after a basket by the Lady Eagles to bring UCF within 11, 23-12, with 10:16 remaining in the period. Southern Miss then used a 9-2 run over the next 6:04 to take a 32-14 lead. The Lady Eagles extended their lead to 39-20 with 3:01 left until intermission before entering the locker room down 45-24.
UCF committed 15 turnovers in the opening period and managed to shoot 35.7 percent (10-of-28) after missing 12 of its first 13 shots from the floor. The Lady Eagles torched the nets for 57.6 percent (19-of-33) shooting from the field in the opening period, including five three-pointers.
The Lady Eagles came out strong from the halftime intermission and built their lead to 58-31 with 16:05 to go in the game. UCF then used a 7-0 run that was capped off by a three-pointer from Angelica Mealing (Decatur, Ga.) to trim its deficit down to 20, 58-38 with 14:17 remaining.
With the Knights trailing 65-43, Cannon and Daniels knocked down back-to-back baskets to bring UCF within 18 points, 65-47, with 9:43 left and force Southern Miss coach Joye Lee-McNelis to burn a timeout. The Knights extended the run to 12-2 after Daniels and Mealing each knocked down threes and White had a basket to whittle UCF's deficit down to 67-55 at the 8:25 mark of the final period. UCF got as close as 11 points, 69-58, with 3:58 left, but the Lady Eagles finished out strong to claim the win.
UCF returns to action Thursday, Jan. 31, when it plays host to Marshall in the first game of a four-game homestand. Tip-off in the New UCF Arena is slated for 7 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on UCFAthletics.com with Scott Adams.
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.