March 1, 2008
MEMPHIS (www.ucfathletics.com) - Coming off a narrow 68-63 loss at UAB on Thursday, the UCF women's basketball team closes out its 2007-08 regular season on Saturday when it travels to Memphis, Tenn., to face the Memphis Lady Tigers. Tip-off in Elma Roane Fieldhouse is slated for 3 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on UCFAthletics.com with Scott Adams.
The Knights (9-19, 2-13 Conference USA), who already have notched their most wins in three seasons, will be looking to gain momentum heading into the upcoming Conference USA Tournament, which is set to commence on Thursday, March 6 in the New UCF Arena. UCF also will be looking to avenge a 78-68 loss to the Lady Tigers in the first meeting between the two teams on Feb. 9 in Orlando, Fla.
Freshman guards D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta) and Marshay White (Rochester, N.Y.) each led the Knights on Thursday with 16 points apiece. UCF, which trailed by 14 points with 4:43 remaining in the game, made a valiant late-game comeback that included a 17-6 run to pull the Knights within three with 33 seconds left.
"We're looking forward to facing Memphis again," UCF head coach Joi Williams said. "We had a great opportunity to win on Thursday night and I'm really proud of the way our team fought back in that game. We need to be as aggressive on Saturday as we were in the second half last night and, if we are able to do that, we will have a good chance to be successful against Memphis."
The Knights are led by freshman forward/center Tia Lewis (Poulan, Ga.), the nation's fifth-leading rebounder. Lewis averages 12.1 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game, and is coming off a career-high 17-board performance against UAB. Lewis now has 322 rebounds this season and needs just four more to break the school's all-time single-season rebounding record.
White follows with 11.8 ppg and a squad-best 94 assists, while freshman forward/center Emma Cannon (Rochester, N.Y.) adds 11.2 ppg and 8.5 rpg. Cannon has hit 11 consecutive free throws, dating back to the team's Feb. 17 game at East Carolina, while freshman guard Chelsie Wiley (Riviera Beach, Fla.) has made 13 straight charity shots dating back to that game.
The Knights and Lady Tigers meet for the seventh time in school history with the all-time series tied at 3-3. The two teams split the season series last year with UCF taking a 77-62 decision in Orlando and Memphis winning 80-73 in Memphis. The Knights are 3-2 all-time vs. the Lady Tigers since joining Conference USA.
The complete bracket, pairings and times for the Conference USA Tournament will be released late Saturday evening.
UCF will play host to the 2008 Conference USA Women's Basketball Tournament, March 6-9, at the new UCF Arena. Single-game and session ticket packages are now available. Call the UCFAA Ticket Sales Office at 407-823-1000. 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.
--UCFAA--