March 8, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
EL PASO, Texas. (UCFathletics.com) - In some ways for UCF's women's basketball team, this is the equivalent of going into a big test and already having the answers in hand. Winning eight games in a row down the stretch and delivering yet another strong closing kick showed UCF's women's basketball team that it could beat any team in Conference USA. And winning the C-USA crown two years ago - a first in program history - taught the team what it takes to bring home some championship hardware.
UCF heads into this week's C-USA Championship in El Paso in as good a position to win the league title as any other foe. The Knights saved their best basketball for when it mattered most and have ridden a surge of momentum through the final five weeks of the regular season.
Now, the Knights will be trying to win their second championship in three years, and they feel as if they are in a prime position to do just that.
``Any time that you can already have tournament experience, especially championship experience, it only helps. (Winning the 2009 title) was a great memory for us. But we've got to go and take care of business,'' UCF head coach Joi Williams said. ``We really have to focus on who wins that UAB-Marshall game. We're going to take it one game at a time like we have every year. That's always the approach regardless of what's happened in the past.''
Williams is in her fourth season at UCF, and she is heading into this C-USA tournament with a bona fide senior class for the first time. Seniors D'Nay Daniels and Chelsie Wiley played big parts on the 2009 championship team and the two go into the week knowing the challenges that lie ahead.
``You can't go there and win the championship by winning that first game,'' said Wiley, who led UCF in scoring at 14.2 points per game and was named to C-USA's All-Conference Second Team. ``We just have that sense of urgency. But the way you win a championship is one game at a time, and that's our focus now.''
Daniels, UCF's undersized but fiery small forward, know what's at stake for UCF's women's team this week. She pointed out that plenty of teams win championships, but few get a chance to truly leave their mark with multiple titles.
``Winning one before is a pretty big advantage for us, but it's different every year. You can't go in with the same mindset every year because our team is difference and our personnel are different,'' said Daniels, also a member of the C-USA All-Conference Second Team. ``Winning another championship would show what we've built here at UCF. Going from nothing (in 2008) to winning a championship (in 2009) to not having not-so-good of a year (in 2010) to possibly having a chance to win another one (in 2011), I'm just so happy for this last opportunity.''
That opportunity won't begin until Thursday for the second-seeded Knights as they await the winner of the UAB-Marshall game. (UCF swept both teams during the regular season). It is the first time since joining Conference USA in 2005 that the Knights have had a bye into the quarterfinals.
And UCF couldn't be any hotter entering the C-USA tournament, winning its final eight games of the regular season. It's the longest winning streak since the team won nine in a row since 2003-04.
``I think the momentum that we're playing with right now is a big advantage for us,'' Williams said. ``Any time you can end the regular season like we have, it's a confidence builder for the team. But we also know that when we arrive in El Paso that everybody is on the same page and 0-0. But we're excited about the opportunity that we have.''
Daniels said winning a second C-USA championship and getting back to the NCAA Tournament again would be a crowning achievement for UCF's senior class.
``I was talking to one of my friends the other night and it hit me that, `It's almost over,''' Daniels said. ``But the whole conference tournament thing makes it feel ever bigger. Winning this conference tournament would make it all so sweet for us.''
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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.