Southern Miss
UCF
Women's Basketball Team Drops Conference Road Game to UCF
1/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Southern Miss women's basketball team dropped its conference road opener to UCF by a score of 67-43 Sunday afternoon.
Freshman Jamierra Faulkner led Southern Miss (6-9, 1-1) with a game-high 17 points. UCF (9-6, 2-0) placed three players in double figures led by D'Nay Daniels with 16 points, followed by Jelisa Caldwell with 14 and Chelsie Wiley chipped in 11. Daniels and Aisha Patrick grabbed 10 rebounds apiece.
"I thought we started off strong today," Coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "We hit a lull around the 12 minute mark and couldn't make any shots. From there, we just struggled. We had every opportunity to make some of those shots, they just didn't fall. When we can't make shots for whatever reason, we struggle. I thought Jamierra Faulkner played with a lot of heart and tried to lead the team, but we just didn't have anyone else step up. With all of our injuries, we don't have any help coming off the bench."
Southern Miss started strong out of the gate, jumping out to a 10-4 lead. UCF then used a 10-0 run over a span of 2:14 in taking a 14-10 advantage at the 13:10 mark. Rachel Vigers ended the UCF run with a basket to get within 14-12.
UCF then held the Lady Eagles scoreless for the next 2:51 as the Knights extended their lead to 11 points, 23-12.
The teams traded baskets over a 5:46 span and during that time, USM got the lead under double figures, 30-22. However, UCF ended the half scoring the last nine points for a 39-22 halftime lead.
It took almost four minutes before either team scored a basket in the second half, but the Lady Eagles got their first points of the half with Faulkner scored on a layup at the 13:52 mark. Southern Miss managed to get the lead under 20 only once in the half, 45-27, with 11:22remaining. UCF wasted little time in extending its lead to as many as 28 and kept the 20-point margin for the remainder of the game.
UCF held a 45-34 rebounding edge and shot 41.9 percent from the field while Southern Miss finished the game with a 31.6 percent shooting from the field.
Southern Miss remains on the road when the Lady Eagles travel to Houston for a Jan. 13 matchup.
