Dec. 2, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Questions heading into the game centered on whether or not the UCF women's basketball team would be rusty after a 12-day layoff. The answer from the visiting Knights was a resounding no as the team rolled to an 84-67 win over Jacksonville (1-5) at Swisher Gymnasium.
UCF (2-1) used 23 points and 14 rebounds from junior Emma Cannon (Rochester, N.Y.) and a career-high 21 from sophomore Aisha Patrick (Rockledge, Fla.) to make a winner of head coach Joi Williams in a return to her hometown. The head coach is 3-0 against Jacksonville in her three seasons at the helm at UCF.
"It is always nice to come here and play in front of friends and family, and of course getting a victory makes it a lot more fun," Williams said. "I was proud of the way our team played on the defensive end in the second half. After a disappointing first half on that end of the floor, we challenged our players at halftime, and they responded."
Holding a six-point lead, UCF opened the second half on a 16-2 run to increase its advantage to 62-44. Cannon and Patrick combined for 11 of the 16 points during the spurt.
The Knights still led by 16 with 7:01 remaining when a brilliant stretch by Patrick left no doubt UCF would win going away. The sophomore hit back-to-back jumpers, and assisted on a D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta, Ga.) jumper, and knocked down four-straight free throws on consecutive possessions to give her team its biggest lead of the night, 82-61, with 3:58 remaining.
For the game, Patrick hit 7-of-10 field goals and all seven of her free throw attempts. She added seven rebounds, four assists and three steals to her career-high 21 points. Six of UCF's 22 offensive rebounds came from the sophomore guard.
"Aisha has the ability to positively affect the game both offensively and defensively and she did that tonight," said Williams. "She was aggressive getting to the basket and that led to opportunities for both herself and her teammates. In the second half, she really set the tone for us defensively."
Offensively, UCF showed no signs of rust from the long layoff from the opening tip, getting eight points early from Cannon to race out to a 13-6 lead.
In a roller coaster first 20 minutes, Jacksonville responded with a run of its own and eventually tied the game at 22. The Knights again tried to pull away and took its largest lead of the first half, 41-32, on a pair of Cannon free throws with 3:30 on the clock, but the Dolphins closed to 46-40 at the break.
Behind 15 points and nine rebounds from Cannon, the Knights hit 18-of-39 shots in the first half and hit 8-of-9 free throws. However, JU shot 46.7 percent (14-30) and connected on 12-of-14 from the stripe to keep the contest close going to the locker room.
Daniels, celebrating her 21st birthday, had eight points at halftime and was one of two Knights to score 10 points. Junior Chelsie Wiley (Riviera Beach, Fla.) hit two three-pointers and added 10.
The Knights return to the UCF Arena and will put a nine-game home winning streak on the line on Sunday against Washington. UCF's first meeting all-time with a Pac-10 foe is slated for a 1 p.m. tipoff.