Feb. 14, 2010
| UCF at Memphis Feb. 14, 2010 |
| Memphis, Tenn. (Elma Roane Fieldhouse) | |||||
| Team | 1st | 2nd | Final | ||
| UCF | 35 | 37 | 72 | ||
| Memphis | 38 | 38 | 76 | ||
UCF (7-13, 4-7 C-USA)
Daniels, D'Nay 9-14 7-8 25; White, Marshay 7-19 0-0 16; Wiley, Chelsie 3-13 4-4 11; Cannon, Emma 4-8 0-1 8; Patrick, Aisha 2-9 1-2 6; Mealing, Angelica 2-2 0-0 6; Caldwell, Jelisa 0-2 0-0 0; Davis, Racine 0-0 0-0 0; Kelly, Ashia 0-1 0-0 0; Carter, Gevenia 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-68 12-15 72.
MEMPHIS (15-9, 8-3, C-USA)
CARTER, Brittany 6-12 3-6 17; DICKSON, Nicole 8-10 0-0 17; WINCHELL, Alex 4-7 0-0 12; LONLACK, Ramses 3-5 5-7 11; BULLARD, LaToya 1-9 5-6 7; MUMPHREY, Taylor 3-6 0-0 6; ELLIS, Savannah 2-3 0-0 4; LUELLEN-HIGGINS, Sta 1-5 0-2 2; KELSEY, Chatia 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 13-21 76.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UCFAthletics.com) - Despite a career-high 25 points from junior D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta, Ga.) and a furious comeback, UCF (7-13, 4-7 C-USA) fell behind too many times Sunday afternoon at Elma Roane Fieldhouse and the result was a 76-72 hard-fought loss at league-leading Memphis (15-9, 8-3 C-USA) in Conference USA women's basketball action.
Daniels, coming off a 17-point effort at UAB Friday, was even better Sunday in leading the Knights with a career day. The junior hit 9-of-14 shots from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. Daniels added nine rebounds and collected her 100th steal with three thefts.
After falling behind by 11 points in the first half, UCF trailed by just three (38-35) coming out of the locker room. However, the Tigers jumped the lead back to nine by scoring the first six points of the second half.
Again, the Knights responded, and took the lead twice on back-to-back buckets by junior Emma Cannon (Rochester, N.Y.), the last giving UCF a 52-51 lead with 11:17 remaining.
Brittany Carter, C-USA's leading scorer, bookended an 8-4 spurt that put Memphis ahead to stay, 59-54 at the 8:54 mark. The Knights would cut the lead to one on two occasions the rest of the way, but never reclaimed a lead as LaToya Bullard hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the Tiger win.
While UCF started slowly on the offensive end, the Tigers were on the go from the start and jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first half. The Knights battled back and used three-pointers by Aisha Patrick (Rockledge, Fla.), Marshay White (Rochester, N.Y.) and finally Chelsie Wiley (Riviera Beach, Fla.) trim the margin to 19-18 at the 10:56 mark.
The threes stopped falling for UCF and started going down for the Tigers' Alex Winchell as the junior drilled a trio from long range during an 11-0 run that gave Memphis a commanding 30-19 lead.
Two three-point plays by Daniels helped UCF end the half on a 15-8 run and close the halftime deficit to just three at 38-35. Daniels had a game-high 14 points at the break, including a perfect 6-of-6 from the line.
With junior Emma Cannon (Rochester, N.Y.) hauling in 14, UCF outrebounded its 10th-straight opponent. The Knights held a 40-34 edge on the glass, including 17 on the offensive end. Cannon added eight points, two blocks and two steals in the contest. Like Daniels, she notched her 100th career steal.
After shooting just 31.4 percent (11-35) in the first half, UCF knocked down 48.5 percent (16-33) in the second 20 minutes. The Knights knocked down six three-pointers but took 23 to shoot just 26.2 percent. Memphis, meanwhile, knocked down seven of its 12 three-point attempts.
White added 16 points off the UCF bench and Wiley had 11, but the two guards combined to hit just 10-of-32 shots, including 3-for-18 from distance.
Carter and Nicole Dickson each had 17 points for Memphis while Winchell added 12, all coming on three-pointers. The Tigers shot 49.1 percent (28-57) from the field.
UCF will return home to play its final two games at the UCF Arena this week. The Knights host Rice on Thursday and Houston on Saturday, with both games slated to tip-off at 7 p.m.
Tickets are currently available with the UCF Ticket Office. For more information on purchasing tickets, contact the UCF ticket office at (407) 823-1000.
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