March 6, 2009
NEW ORLEANS, La. (UCFAthletics.com) - Sophomores Chelsie Wiley (Riviera Beach, Fla.) and Emma Cannon (Rochester, N.Y.) combined for 46 points as fifth-seeded UCF (15-16) built an 18-point halftime lead and defeated fourth-seeded Houston (19-10) 79-66 Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship at Fogelman Arena. The victory comes one day after downing Rice 66-64 for the first C-USA tournament win in the program's history.
With the victory, UCF advances to Saturday's first semifinal against top-seeded SMU. The Knights and the Mustangs, who defeated eighth-seeded East Carolina 77-69 in the first game Friday, will tip-off at 3 p.m. Eastern in a contest that will be nationally televised by CBS College Sports.
Early in the opening half, UCF rattled off a 10-0 run to lead 16-6 with 12:01 on the first half clock. Moments later, the Knights began an 11-2 run which was capped by eight-straight points from Wiley to increase the lead to 27-12 at the 5:01 mark.
Wiley scored 12 of her game-high 26 points in the first half. The sophomore registered her 10th 20-point game of the season on 8-for-19 shooting, including 3-for-8 from long range. She was also 7-for-10 from the charity stripe and added five rebounds.
Late in the half, Cannon scored four points as part of a 10-2 spurt to push the lead to 39-21, and the Knights took a 39-21 lead into the halftime break.
Cannon had her 18th double-double of the season by halftime, totaling 14 points and 10 rebounds at the break. She finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, hitting 8-of-11 field goals 4-of-5 from the stripe.
In the opening half, UCF hit 15-of-32 from the field while holding Houston to just 7-for-28 for 25 percent. The Cougars also turned the ball over 10 times in the half.
Houston mounted a run early in the second half, but UCF hit nine of its first 13 shots in the period to keep the Cougars behind by at least double figures. The Knights' edge did not dip below 10 until 1:55 was left in the contest when a Courtney Taylor layup brought the Cougars to a 70-61 deficit. UCF hit seven free throws in the final two minutes to close out the game.
Taylor led Houston with 19 points while Brittney Scott and Cobilyn Hill added 15 and 14 points respectively.
Cannon and Wiley were not the lone Knights in double figures as sophomore Angelica Mealing (Decatur, Ga.) and freshman Aisha Patrick (Rockledge, Fla.) chipped in 12 and 10 respectively. Mealing added seven assists and four steals.
On Feb. 7, UCF defeated SMU 78-68 in Orlando behind 26 points from Wiley and 14 points and 20 rebounds from Cannon.
CBS College Sports Network is channel 106 on Bright House Networks in the Orlando area, as well as channel 613 on DirecTV and channel 152 on Dish Network/Echostar. Ann Schatz will be on the call as the play-by-play announcer while Tammy Blackburn will serve as the color analyst.
Fans can also listen to a live audio internet broadcast of the semifinals on Saturday, with coverage set to begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. Eastern. The voice of the team, Scott Adams, will be on the call, and the broadcast can be accessed free of charge through Stretch Audio Internet at http://ucfathletics.cstv.com/multimedia/ucf-wbb-stretch-sched.html.
Conference USA will also offer live online streaming video of the semifinals in the C-USA Women's Basketball Championship. The game will be available on a pay-per-view basis for a one-time payment of $7.95.
Current Annual subscribers to Knights All-Access will receive all of UCF's C-USA tournament pay-per-views for FREE as part of their Annual package. Those subscribers can just log in with their normal account and begin watching the games. Please note that monthly subscribers will have to purchase the pay-per-views.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Newspaper Box Score
(5) UCF vs (4) Houston
3/6/09 2:30 p.m. at New Orleans (Fogelman Arena)
At New Orleans (Fogelman Arena)
(5) UCF 79, (4) HOUSTON 66
(5) UCF (15-16)
Wiley, Chelsie 8-19 7-10 26; Cannon, Emma 8-11 4-5 20; Mealing, Angelica 5-10 1-3 12; Patrick, Aisha 5-8 0-0 10; White, Marshay 1-2 3-4 5; Daniels, D'Nay 2-3 0-0 4; Kirkpatrick, Amber 1-4 0-0 2; Caldwell, Jelisa 0-1 0-0 0; Kelly, Ashia 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-58 15-22 79.
(4) HOUSTON (19-10)
TAYLOR, Courtney 6-14 6-6 19; SCOTT, Brittney 4-11 5-6 15; HILL, Cobilyn 7-13 0-0 14; JOHNSON, Jasmine 3-13 3-3 9; LANDRY, Porsche 2-3 0-0 4; JOSEPH, Ashlee' 1-2 1-2 3; MASON, Brittany 1-4 0-2 2; BUTTON, Roxana 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 15-19 66.
(5) UCF......................... 39 40 - 79
(4) Houston..................... 21 45 - 66
3-point goals--(5) UCF 4-12 (Wiley, Chelsie 3-8; Mealing, Angelica 1-2; Kirkpatrick, Amber 0-1; Caldwell, Jelisa 0-1), (4) Houston 3-10 (SCOTT, Brittney 2-6; TAYLOR, Courtney 1-2; JOHNSON, Jasmine 0-2). Fouled out--(5) UCF-None, (4) Houston-JOHNSON, Jasmine; MASON, Brittany. Rebounds--(5) UCF 38 (Cannon, Emma 13), (4) Houston 33 (TAYLOR, Courtney 9). Assists--(5) UCF 14 (Mealing, Angelica 7), (4) Houston 11 (JOHNSON, Jasmine 7). Total fouls--(5) UCF 15, (4) Houston 22. Technical fouls--(5) UCF-None, (4) Houston-None. A-1354
2009 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship QUARTERFINALS