Jan. 9, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFathletics.com) - With four consecutive victories in hand - including back-to-back dominant performances in Conference USA play - UCF's women's basketball team is hoping that its inconsistent ways are finally a thing of the past.
After all, momentum is such a huge factor in basketball, and the Knights haven't felt this good about the way that they are playing in some time.
UCF used a strong start offensively and a dominant defensive stretch in which it held Southern Miss without a point for more than 10 minutes in a 67-43 throttling of the Golden Eagles at UCF Arena.
The Knights (9-6 overall and 2-0 in C-USA play) got 16 points from D'Nay Daniels, 14 from Jelisa Caldwell and 11 more from Chelsie Wiley and made it stand up with a strong defensive effort. The ability to put together a solid effort on both ends of the floor shows just how good of a team the Knights can be, Daniels said.
``Momentum is one of the biggest things with me,'' said Daniels, who added 10 rebounds and made seven of 11 shots. ``Going into the conference winning just gave us more confidence. Now, listening to coach and believing in each other has allowed us to keep our momentum going.
``You never know, but hopefully we're over (the inconsistency issues) and ready to move forward,'' Daniels continues. ``We can be dominant in Conference USA and I feel like this game showed it.''
UCF forced Southern Miss (6-9, 1-1) into 18 turnovers and 31.6 percent shooting while blocking a season-high six shots. More impressively, the Knights held Southern Miss without a field goal for the final 4:09 of the first half and the first 6:10 of the second half.
``Southern Miss is a physical team and we knew we had to be aggressive right along with them,'' UCF head coach Joi Williams said. ``We did a good job of that. We were physical and did a good job on the boards and going at them and not backing away.''
UCF is 2-0 in C-USA play for the first time since 2008-09, the year when the Knights won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA tourney. The Knights are also 6-1 at home this season and their four-game winning streak has them believing that great things are within reach again this season.
``I believe a game like this can show how we can dominate teams,'' Wiley said.
``Our whole thing is dominate the key factors of the game - defensive field goal percentage, rebounding and turnovers. We do that those things we're going to win a lot of games.''
UCF's offensive improvement has played a big role in the recent winning streak. The Knights have much more scoring depth around Wiley now, and that's been evident as they have scored 79, 72, 81 and 67 points during the winning streak. On Sunday, six players had at least six points. And UCF had 15 assists on its 26 field goals. Angelica Mealing had six assists, while Caldwell added five more.
``That's huge for us. We have a lot of weapons and people who can score,'' Williams said. ``In the past, you might just focus on Chelsie, but Jelisa Caldwell is have an outstanding year and her confidence is growing. And our young players are growing. We just have to bring that defensive intensity every night.''
UCF led 39-22 at the half on Sunday, but it actually got off to a rocky start, falling behind 10-4 when Southern Miss' Jamierra Faulker (17 points) fired up a desperation 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock.
But from there the Knights went on the attack, battering Southern Miss from all angles. A 23-2 UCF burst, one in which the Knights got points from four different players, put UCF ahead 23-12 and set the tone for the rest of the half. The Knights shot a solid 45.2 percent in the first half and connected on five 3-pointers.
And the Knights were able to create plenty of offense in the first half on the strength of their defense. UCF scored 14 points off 11 Southern Miss turnovers in the first half.
``We come in and play hard every game and if we don't do that we're going to end up with a loss,'' said Daniels, who had one of the best plays of the game when she swatted a shot on one end and raced back to connect on a 15-foot jump shot on the other end. ``Coach always emphasizes our intensity, so with us diving on the floor and going after loose balls it shows that we believe in each other and we're playing hard.''
Wiley made Southern Miss pay for dropping back into a zone defense, pouring in 11 points in the first half. In the first 20 minutes, she made one 3-pointer, buried four free throws and hit the cracks in the defense for two more runners.
Up next for the Knights is a home game against UAB on Thursday and a chance to push their record to 3-0 in conference play and an opportunity to extend the winning streak to five games. Williams said the win streak isn't as much a focus as continuing to play with consistency is.
``It's not something that we talk about, how many games in a row that we've won. We just move onto the next one, but hopefully we can look up at the end of the year and have a long stretch (of wins),'' Williams said. ``We just want to focus on UAB. With our seniors, their focus is really good right now.''