ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – A dominant defensive performance led the UCF women's basketball team to an 81-41 victory over Omaha in CFE Arena on Tuesday afternoon.
"(The team has) really bought in to hard work," head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. "It's hard to win games; you actually have to work harder to win. Just having the whole mentality of work ethic and hard work and what it takes to be 10-2. I think they're really getting it."
At 10-2, UCF is off to its best start since the 1982-83 season. The Knights reached the 80-point mark for the first time this season while posting their largest margin of victory (40). UCF held Omaha to a season-low 41 points.
Four Knights finished in double figures. Junior Aliyah Gregory led all scorers with 18 points to go along with a season-high seven assists and a pair of steals. Junior Fifi Ndour posted her first double-double of the season, scoring 15 points while tying her season-best with 10 rebounds. The Dakar, Senegal, native went 5-for-5 from the free throw line with a pair of blocks.
Redshirt senior Joslyn Massey added 14 points, and senior Zykira Lewis chipped in 11 points and a team-high five steals. Freshman Korneila Wright dished out five assists and collected four steals.
Second Time Around
• Facing Omaha for the second straight season, the Knights flipped the script this time around. The Mavericks claimed a 75-60 win in Omaha on Nov. 14, 2015.
• UCF posted a 40-point margin in the win, more than doubling the amount by which it lost last season (15).
• Top five scorers from Tuesday's win – Aliyah Gregory (18), Fifi Ndour (15), Joslyn Massey (14), Zykira Lewis (11) and Nyala Shuler (9) – scored a combined 27 points in Omaha last season. They combined for 28 points in the first half on Tuesday.
• UCF is now 2-1 this season against teams that they lost to during the 2015-16 campaign. The only loss was by one point at currently undefeated Buffalo on Dec. 1.
Awesome All-Around
• Seven Knights played more than 20 minutes in UCF's win. All seven scored at least six points and collected four or more rebounds.
• For the second time in as many games, UCF held its opponent to just four points in a quarter. Omaha scored four points in the final 11:27 of game time.
• The Knights turned the ball over just 11 times in the victory, marking the fewest team turnovers this season.
• UCF went 13-for-15 from the free throw line, shooting a season-best 86.7 percent from the charity stripe.
UCF closes nonconference play on Dec. 28 when UC Davis comes to town for a 7 p.m. contest.
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