HOW IT HAPPENED
Costly turnovers from the Knights gave the visitors a pair of early baskets as each team shot a combined 2-9 from the field before the first media timeout. Samari Bankhead found space in the paint for UCF’s first bucket of the contest, cutting the lead in half after four minutes of action.
Shots weren’t falling for the Knights as the first period came to a close, with the Cougars opening up an eight-point advantage. Rotation from the UCF bench facilitated continued defensive pressure on BYU, as Jacorriah Bracey connected on a pair of jumpers to halve the deficit.
Down 17-12 after the opening 10 minutes of play, the Black and Gold forced multiple turnovers, eventually leading to points with Jasmynne Gibson, Kayanna Cox and Harmon connecting multiple attempts to put the Knights within one. Just as UCF was in striking distance, BYU responded with an 8-0 run, growing its lead back to nine.
While each team turned the ball over a combined 27 times, the Cougars turned their opportunities into 17 points, while the Knights mustered just three off of 13 BYU turnovers.
In a similar fashion to the first half, every attempt from the Black and Gold to fight back into the game was met with a BYU scoring run. A 9-0 stretch from the visitors garnered the Cougars their largest lead of the contest, taking a 42-28 lead into the media timeout.
Out of the break, BYU went on a 22-2 run to end the quarter, as multiple scoring droughts from the hosts put the matchup firmly in the Cougars’ hands. A 3-16 shooting clip hindered any chance at puting the matchup within reach.
A better final 10 minutes from the Black and Gold was too little, too late, as BYU held off a later surge to take the conference opener in Orlando.
UP NEXT
The Knights will have a week-long break for the holidays before returning to action on New Year's Eve, venturing to Lubbock for a meeting with Texas Tech.
