Jan. 23, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFathletics.com) - One streak over, the UCF's women's basketball team was already looking at taking down another streak Sunday afternoon not long after crushing Marshall with its finest all-around performance of the season.
UCF ended a two-game losing streak by starting the game with a 25-4 run and backing it up with a 19-4 burst to open the second half in a 68-40 demolition of Marshall at the UCF Arena Sunday afternoon.
Now 11-8 overall and 4-2 in Conference USA play, UCF now has its sights set on conference leaders Houston, which is riding a six-game winning streak in C-USA play. The two C-USA powers play Thursday night at UCF Arena.
``We just wanted to bounce back. We had a terrible game (in Memphis on Thursday) and didn't play like ourselves and didn't execute. It was just a matter of bouncing back and getting back to ourselves,'' said senior forward D'Nay Daniels, who had 19 points, seven rebounds and two steals on Sunday. ``(The Houston game) is another opportunity to show the league what we're all about. And let them know that UCF is back and that this season is going to be a very, very good one for us.''
Sunday was certainly a very good day for the Knights, who shot 46.6 percent from the field, made 9-of-15 three-pointers and forced Marshall (5-13, 1-4) into 30 percent shooting. Because of injuries, the Thundering Herd were down to eight healthy players and standout center Tynikki Crook (12 points, 12 rebounds) was swarmed under by UCF's defense all day.
``We talked about Tynikki Crook is one of the best post players in our league, so to counter that we talked about trying to push the ball in transition to use our speed to get some easy baskets,'' UCF head coach Joi Williams said. ``Memphis was a bad game all around and every mistake that could happen did. We didn't shoot well either. The question was whether we'd respond and bounce back and our players answered the challenge the last two days in practice and had a lot better focus today.''
Handling the ball more with Angelica Mealing out injured, point guard Aisha Patrick pushed the pace with her quickness and filled the stat sheet. The junior guard had six points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals in 32 minutes. Her energy, especially pushing the ball on the fast break, was infectious and gave the Knights' offense a spark.
``It's not fun losing two games in a row like we did and we came in with the mindset that we had to get this game. We worked hard and did the little things,'' Patrick said. ``That's our game - running. UCF is known for pushing the ball in transition and getting out and running. We have quick guards and we like to sprint and get them tired with our transition game.''
Up 10 points at the half, UCF used a 19-4 run to start the second and double-up Marshall, 50-25. And the Knights never let up pushing the ball and running past Marshall, shooting 48.4 percent in the second half, while making six of nine 3-pointers.
UCF led 31-21 at the half, but it could have been much worse considering the strong start the Knights got off to against short-handed Marshall. UCF led 25-4 at one point, getting eight points early from Daniels.
The Knights looked poised for a historic first half, before Marshall found some offense in the form of its 3-point shooting. The Thundering Herd made four straight 3-pointers and used a 14-2 burst to get within 27-19. But the Knights finished the half strong and shot 44 percent with three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes of basketball.
``At the eight minute media timeout it was 21-4 and we kind of let them back in the game and lost our energy and played the scoreboard,'' Williams said. ``Generally, we've started slow in the second half, but we challenged them in that first four minutes to send a message that we'd play hard and not let a lead slip away. We did that and I was proud of them.''
And not long after the Knights disposed of Marshall did the focus turn ahead to the challenge of facing Houston, the C-USA leaders with a 6-0 league mark and a 15-4 overall mark. The Cougars beat Memphis 81-68 on Sunday. The Knights are 8-1 at UCF Arena this season and will face Houston on their home court Thursday night at 7 p.m.
``In order to win the league you have to win at home and they're coming to our home so we have to use our home court to our advantage,'' Williams said. ``Hopefully, we'll get some fans out here. We'll have to play defense and rebound because Houston is very athletic at every position and they have one of the best post duos. In the past, we've played well against them, but good defense will be the answer.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFathletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.