March 2, 2011
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
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By Pat Salvas
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Thursday's contest with Memphis marks the final regular season home game of the season for the surging UCF women's basketball team. The matchup between the Knights (18-10, 11-4 C-USA) and Tigers (19-10, 8-7 C-USA) will be broadcast nationally on CBS College and will also serve as Senior Night, honoring five members of the senior class for their dedication and commitment to the program over the last four seasons. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
Several exciting events surrounding the game will treat fans to a special night. The first 250 fans in attendance will receive a FREE UCF women's basketball t-shirt, while the first 500 will get a FREE UCF women's basketball senior poster.
A postgame ceremony will highlight the accomplishments of the class followed by a video presentation. Fans are encouraged to stay following the game to celebrate and honor Jelisa Caldwell, Leah Paige, Angelica Mealing, D'Nay Daniels and Chelsie Wiley with their friends and families.
The Knights are currently on a seven-game winning streak and will look to make it eight in a row when they take on the Tigers, a team that beat them earlier this season. UCF's streak has secured it a No. 2 seed in next week's C-USA Tournament and a bye into the quarterfinals, both firsts for the Knights since joining C-USA in 2005. The Tigers are currently tied for fifth in the league standings with an 8-7 record.
The Conference USA Tournament will be hosted by UTEP in El Paso, Texas beginning March 9. UCF will not take to the floor until the following day in the conference quarterfinals.
Don't miss out on another exciting UCF women's basketball game this season as affordable single-game tickets for remaining home games are available right now. Tickets start at $2 for youth and seniors, $5 for general admission. Tickets can be purchased online at UCFAthletics.com or by calling the UCF Athletics Ticket Office at (407) UCF-1000.
Thursday's Game
Thursday marks the final game of the regular season and Senior Night for the UCF women's basketball team. The Knights locked up the No. 2 seed and bye in the first round of next week's C-USA Tournament with a 72-65 win Sunday at Southern Miss. The victory was the seventh straight for UCF as it moves forward towards postseason play.
Scouting Memphis
The Tigers have been on a slide as of late, winning just one of its last five games to limp towards the conference tournament. In the team's most recent game, Memphis fell, 59-45, to UAB on the road this past Sunday. The Tigers began the season 14-3, but have gone just 5-7 over the last 12 games. Brittany Carter leads Memphis in scoring this season and ranks ninth in the league at 13.7 points per game. Jasmine Lee's 8.5 rebounds per game are a team lead, while ranking sixth in C-USA.
All-Time Series
The Tigers' win in mid-January evened the series at 6-6. Looking further into this matchup, both teams are 3-3 at home and on the road against one another. After UCF won three straight over Memphis, the Tigers have won the last two meetings.
On the Air
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. Marc Daniels will be filling in for Scott Adams on Thursday and will handle the play-by-play duties live from the UCF Arena.
Last Time Out
Perhaps UCF's toughest loss of the season came at Memphis' Elma Roane Fieldhouse back on Jan. 20. The Tigers handed the Knights a 74-53 loss that night; their worst defeat of the season. The bright spot for UCF that game was senior D'Nay Daniels becoming just the 14th player in program history to score 1,000 points in her career when she connected on her third field goal of the evening.
This Year's Senior Class
This is the largest and first true class at UCF in more than half a decade. Five seniors will be playing in their final home game in a Knights' uniform Thursday when they take to the floor against Memphis. D'Nay Daniels, Chelsie Wiley, Leah Paige, Angelica Mealing and Jelisa Caldwell have been the backbone of the Knights for the past four years and helped earn the program's first C-USA Championship in 2009 as sophomores.
Securing Second
The Knights used a strong first-half start to jump out to an early lead they would never relinquish at Southern Miss. The win gave UCF an 11-4 record in league play, thus securing themselves the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament. It marks the first time that the Knights have achieved either since joining the league in 2005.
From Three
Wiley became just the second player in program history to reach 200 three-point field goals in a career. The senior guard did it in style, matching her season high of six in a game, including four in the second half to stop a late Golden Eagles comeback bid. Wiley now has 202 in her career and sits just 11 back of first-place Francine Houston's (`07) 213 career trifectas.
Sweet 16
Daniels and junior Aisha Patrick have had nearly parallel stats all season long and that didn't change at Southern Miss. Both players scored 16 points against the Lady Eagles to help UCF secure its first-ever first-round bye in the league tournament with the win. Patrick also led the team with eight rebounds in the game.
TV Timeout
Thursday's game will be UCF's third on television this season and the second broadcast nationally. The Knights hosted UAB Jan. 13 in a game that was seen live on Bright House Sports Network, winning 65-55. They then played their second straight televised game when they travelled to take on SMU Jan. 16 in a game shown on ESPN2, but fell in the final minutes, 70-63.
Perfect Month
February might be the shortest month of the calendar year, but UCF made the most of it, winning all seven games it played. Dating back to the 2008-09 season, the Knights are 23-8 in games played in February on. Last season, UCF was 7-4 after Feb. 1. When the Knights won the league title in 2009, UCF was 9-4 from the start of the month through the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
18 and Up
The win at Southern Miss was the Knights' 18th of the season. UCF now has eight seasons of 18 or more victories in program history. The last time the Knights reached the 18-win mark was in the 2004-05 season when the team finished 19-10 in their final year in the A-Sun.
On the Rise
UCF's RPI has moved up another two spots to No. 78 this week. The Knights were 80th last week and No. 91 two weeks ago.