Feb. 26, 2012
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By Jenna Marina
UCFAthletics.com
HOUSTON, Texas (UCFAthletics.com) - Three Knights scored in double figures but it wasn't enough to help the UCF women's basketball team on the road Sunday. UCF lost its third-straight game in a 66-53 decision to Houston at Hofheinz Pavilion in front of a national television audience.
Junior forward Kayli Keough led the Knights (12-15, 7-8 C-USA) with 17 points, and senior guard Aisha Patrick tallied her eighth double-double of the year with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds and added four assists and a game-high four steals.
The Knights produced solid minutes from their bench as freshman Andrea Hines chipped in 11 points and senior Racine Davis recorded a career-high nine rebounds to go along with her eight points.
Houston (3-24, 2-13 C-USA) was led by freshman guard Danielle Parks' career-high 24 points thanks in part to her 4-of-6 showing from three-point land.
With its 13th starting lineup of the season, UCF's quintet of Patrick, Leo Montalvo, the Keough sisters and Stephanie Taylor flustered Houston's offense at the start but the Cougars recovered after the first media timeout to take a 18-10 lead.
Hines jolted some life into the Knights off the bench with back-to-back banked buckets from inside the paint and helped UCF tie the game at 19 with a swished jumper just inside the top of the arc with 8:11 to go.
The Cougars jutted back out to a 27-21 edge but the Knights hung tough with a layup from Kayli Keough and two free throws from Davis. Hines capped the half by slicing through Houston's defense in a drive to the hoop to make it a one-possession game, 30-27, at the break.
UCF claimed its first lead when Montalvo dished to Davis down low for an easy bucket, 39-38, with 12:38 remaining in the game but Houston scrapped to reclaim a 45-41 lead when Parks hit nothing but net from the top of the key with one second left on the shot clock.
Patrick came back with an and-one play, inching the score 45-44, but Parks sank another three to spark the Cougars on a 21-9 run to close out the game for just their second conference win of the season.
UCF returns to Orlando on Thursday for Senior Night when the Knights host Marshall at 7 p.m. in the regular season finale. As always, the IMG Sports Network will broadcast all of UCF's games live on UCFAthletics.com with a subscription plan. Scott Adams will provide the play-by-play. Live stats are also available via UCFAthletics.com.