Dec. 22, 2010
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
DAYTON, Ohio (UCFAthletics.com) - Senior Jelisa Caldwell (Macon, Ga.) became the first UCF women's basketball player since the 2008-09 season to scored 20 or more points in consecutive games and senior D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta, Ga.) recorded her second double-double of the season. However, those individual efforts were not enough to lift the Knights (5-6) to a victory, falling, 73-65, to Wright State (7-4) at the Nutter Center Wednesday night.
Caldwell scored a career-high 30 points on Monday in the team's win over Jacksonville. She followed that up with just her fourth-career 20-point game on Wednesday, shooting 8-of-18 from the floor. Caldwell's five three pointers in the game were also a career high.
Daniels had 16 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for the double-double. She is the only UCF player to record the feat this season, doing so once before against Western Kentucky on Nov. 27.
In a game that saw six ties and seven lead changes, the Raiders used a 9-1 run late in the second half to seal the win.
The Knights had an impressive run of their own in the first half. Trailing 15-5 five and a half minutes into the game, UCF went on a 17-4 run to retake the lead. The Knights would hold onto that lead until the opening minutes of the second half. Both teams began to trade baskets for much of the second, but neither was able build its lead to more than five until Wright State's late surge.
"It's difficult to come on the road and play in a different place, but the one thing you can always bring is your defensive effort," head coach Joi Williams said. "We just didn't have that for 40 minutes tonight."
UCF committed just 12 turnovers in the game, while forcing Wright State into 19 in the game. The Raiders, however, outrebounded the Knights, 48-33.
For the game, the Knights tied a season high with 10 three-pointers. Caldwell led with five and freshman Aarika Judge (Augusta, Ga.) connected on the first two three-point field goals of her career.
Daniels connected on 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, with all eight coming in the second half. She was also 4-of-8 from the floor in the game. Daniels entered the game as the third-best free-throw shooter in Conference USA.
Molly Fox and LaShawna Thomas were the top players for the Raiders Wednesday night. Thomas scored a career-high 27 points with Fox not far behind with 25, also a career high.
The Knights will now have a short break for Christmas before returning to Orlando to take on Tennessee Tech on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the UCF Arena.