Jan. 15, 2011
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Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF women's basketball team will look to go 4-0 in Conference USA play in front of a national television audience Sunday afternoon at SMU. The Knights (10-6, 3-0) and Mustangs (8-8, 1-2) will square off from the Crum Basketball Center at 2 p.m. in a game that will be seen live on ESPN2.
UCF is 3-0 in league play for the first time since 2008-09 when it won the C-USA Tournament and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Knights earned their third conference win and fifth-straight victory overall with a 65-55 decision Thursday night against UAB.
Senior D'Nay Daniels (Atlanta, Ga.) recorded her team-leading fourth double-double of the season as she scored 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. It was the first double-double of the season for junior guard Aisha Patrick (Rockledge, Fla.), who scored 17 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior Chelsie Wiley (Riviera Beach, Fla.) matched Patrick with a team-high 17 points as well.
The Mustangs got their first C-USA win of the season Thursday night, defeating Tulsa, 75-56. In the game, SMU connected on 12 three-pointers, including six from Samantha Mahnesmith. The SMU bench came up big in the win, scoring 26 points, including 10 from Haley Day. The 12 three-pointers are not out of the ordinary for the Mustangs since they are the second-best shooting team from long range in the conference (.346).
Following Sunday's game on ESPN2, the Knights will head to Memphis for a Thursday matchup with the Tigers. The two teams are set to tip-off at 8 p.m. EST.
Season and single-game tickets are on sale now as well with season ticket packages starting at just $39. Fans can purchase tickets online here or by calling (407) UCF-1000.
Sunday's Game The Knights and Mustangs play their only meeting of the season Sunday afternoon in the first of two nationally televised games this season for UCF. The Black and Gold come into the game on a five-game winning streak and are 3-0 in league games to sit third in the conference standings.
Scouting the Mustangs SMU enters Sunday's matchup at 8-8 overall and 1-2 in conference games after beating Tulsa Thursday night. The Mustangs picked up their first league win thanks in large part to their three-point shooting. Connecting on 12 three-pointers, the Mustangs rolled the Golden Hurricane by 19 points, 75-56.
All-Time Series The Knights and Mustangs have played just seven times with SMU claiming victories in five of those contests. UCF is winless in Dallas, going 0-3, including a 69-61 loss last season on Feb. 25. The two teams have met twice in the postseason. In the 2009 C-USA Tournament, the Knights knocked off the No. 1 seeded Mustangs, 62-51, en route to claiming their first league title.
On the Air The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 with Beth Mowins and Tamika Raymond calling the game. The rest of the UCF women's basketball season will be broadcast through Genesis Communications and can be heard on either WAMT 1190 AM or WHOO ESPN 1080 AM. Carsen Ingle will have the call live from the Crum Center Sunday afternoon.
She Did It Again Senior D'Nay Daniels picked up her fourth double-double of the season and her second in as many games Thursday against the Blazers. For the second-straight game, the UCF forward scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds.
She Did It For the First Time All season junior guard Aisha Patrick has been filling the stat sheet. On Thursday she finally picked up her first double-double of the season, scoring a team-high 17 points and posting a game-high 11 rebounds. She also matched a UCF season-best figure by recording five steals in the game.
From the Line The Knights were a season-best 88.9 percent from the free-throw line against UAB. As a whole, the team was 24-of-27 from the line. Patrick shot a career-best 13-of-15 from the stripe, accounting for more than three-quarters of her point total in the game. Senior Chelsie Wiley was 7-of-8 from the line in the win.
Outrebound and Win Ten times this season, the Knights have outrebounded an opponent. Of those 10 instances, UCF has gone on to win nine games, including each contest in the current five-game winning streak. James Madison is the only team this season to beat UCF despite being outrebounded.
Outshoot and Win All 10 victories this season have seen the Knights outshoot their opponents. In stark contrast, all six of the team's losses have come with UCF being outshot by the opposition.
Margin of Victory Just once this year have the Knights beaten an opponent by fewer than 10 points. FIU lost to UCF by nine, 74-65, on Dec. 5 in Miami. That remains the only Knights' victory to come by single-digits.
Home Rules UCF is 7-1 at home this season following the 10-point win over UAB. Those seven victories have already eclipsed the win total from last season when the Knights were 6-8 at the UCF Arena (4-4 vs. C-USA).
Starting Five Since switching back to the starting lineup of Daniels, Wiley, Patrick, Jelisa Caldwell and Ashia Kelly, the Knights have won all five games. In all, UCF is 6-1 this season when using that combination of five to start a game.
Rebounding Leaders Just twice has a player other than Daniels or Patrick led UCF in rebounding in a game in 2010-11. Freshman Erika Jones had a team-high nine versus Jacksonville, while Kelly led with eight against Valdosta State. Daniels has been the Knights' top rebounder in five games, while Patrick has led in six. Three times the two have shared the team rebounding lead.
Climbing the Charts Wiley's 17 points against UAB moved her just 17 points back of Yolanda Rhodes ('92) for fourth all-time in scoring at UCF. The Knights' starting guard currently ranks fifth all-time with 1,305 career points.
Nearly 14th Daniels is just 23 points away from 1,000 for her career. The 16 points against UAB gave her 977 for her career and have her ranked 14th on the program's all-time scoring list. Last season as a junior, Wiley became the 13th player to achieve the milestone in a UCF uniform.
RPI Climb The most recent RPI released by the NCAA has the Knights at No. 88. UCF was No. 99 in the initial poll released two weeks ago, before jumping up 11 spots following wins at rice and against Southern Miss.