Saturday, Jan. 23
Highlights
UCF 50, Houston 38
The UCF women's basketball team came out on top, 50-38, in a defensive battle against Houston in the Fertitta Center on Saturday afternoon.
UCF (8-2, 6-1 AAC) and Houston (8-5, 4-4 AAC) both got off to a slow start, as the squads combined for 10 points in the opening frame. The Knights opened the second quarter with eight unanswered and shot 50 percent from the field to hold a 20-13 lead at halftime. Masseny Kaba accounted for half of UCF's scoring in the opening half with 10 points at the break.
The Knights opened the third quarter with back-to-back baskets to extend to an 11-point advantage, 24-13, and led 28-20 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Offensively, the fourth quarter was UCF's best as the Knights nearly doubled their point total in the final frame. The Black and Gold poured in 22 points. Houston opened the period with a 5-0 spurt to cut UCF's lead to three, 28-25, and prompting a timeout for UCF. Alisha Lewis responded by hitting back-to-back three-pointers out of the huddle and hit a third to push the Knights in front 40-28. Clutch free throw shooting and timely steals down the stretch secured a ninth-straight victory over the Cougars.
UCF forced Houston into 26 turnovers, which the Knights converted into 21 points. The Black and Gold held the Cougars to a 26.8 shooting from the field. The Knights held Houston to a season-low 38 points, the second time this season that a UCF opponent has been held under 40 points.
Masseny Kaba led UCF with a season-high 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Courtajia Sanders and Alisha Lewis each had nine points. Brittney Smith paced UCF on the boards with eight. Diamond Battles had a game-high five steals and four assists.
Temple 65, Wichita State 55
The Temple women's basketball team used a big fourth quarter to come from behind and defeat Wichita State 65-55 Saturday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. The Owls snapped their two-game losing streak to improve to 5-5 (5-2 AAC). The Shockers dropped their sixth-straight game as they fell to 3-6 (0-4 AAC).
How It Happened
> Wichita State held the lead until the fourth quarter when the Owls outscored the Shockers 20-6 to come from behind and win their fifth American Athletic Conference matchup.
> Temple took the lead in the fourth quarter after using a 12-2 run through the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.
> The Owls held a 37-33 edge on the boards.
> Temple outshot the Shockers 41.5% to 36.1%, working around a 5-21 (23.8%) performance from long range.
> The Owls recorded a season-low 12 turnovers, just three days after recording a season high 30 turnovers in the 80-46 loss at Houston.
Statistically Speaking
> Freshman Jasha Clinton led Temple with a game-high 21 points while adding three rebounds, three assists and a steal to her stat line.
> Senior Mia Davis finished just shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.
> Sophomore Asonah Alexander registered 12 points, seven assists, five rebounds, a career-best four blocks and a steal.
> Junior Alexa Williamson added eight points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal to round out the box score.
First Quarter: Wichita State 19, Temple 16
> The fast-paced first quarter was mostly controlled by Wichita State, with the Owls only holding a one-point lead for less than a minute.
> The Shockers capitalized on each of Temple's five mistakes to end the first frame with 10 points off turnovers.
> Alexander and Clinton led Temple in the first quarter with five points each while Clinton dished out three assists.
> Both teams shot well from three-point range as the Shockers registered a 62.5 (3-5) three-point percentage while the Owls shot 40% (2-5) from beyond the arc.
Second Quarter: Wichita State 34, Temple 31
> Both teams continued their hot shooting in the second quarter with Temple finishing the half shooting 48.1% from the floor and Wichita State recording a 41.4 field goal percentage.
> However, Wichita State remained hot from beyond the arc as they knocked down six of their 12 attempts to head into the break shooting 50% from three. Temple's three-point percentage dropped to 27.3 (3-11) at the half.
> The second frame featured six lead changes as the teams went bucket-for-bucket.
> Alexander and Clinton continued to lead the way for the Owls, combining for 19 points and six assists at the break.
> Temple capitalized on each of their three offensive boards in the second quarter to earn six second-chance points.
Third Quarter: Wichita State 49, Temple 45
> Wichita State went up by as many as nine points in the third frame, but the Owls used a 7-2 run over the last four minutes to cut their deficit to four as they headed into the final 10 minutes.
> Clinton continued to lead the Owls, scoring six points and collecting a steal.
> Both teams were only able to knock down one three in the third, but the Shockers ended the quarter with a better shooting percentage than Temple (36.8% to 28.6%).
Fourth Quarter: Temple 65, Wichita State 55
> Temple continued their run in the fourth quarter, opening with a 6-0 streak to go up 51-49.
> The Shockers were able to tie the game twice, but both ties were broken with good foul shots from the Owls.
> At 4:08, Wichita State tied it once more with a second-chance layup by Serpahine Bastin, but E. Mayo answered with a clutch three-pointer at the 3:53 minute mark to give Temple a lead they would not relinquish.
> The Owls ended the game on a 10-0 run to secure the victory.
Memphis 59, Tulsa 50
Freshman Coriah Beck scored a career-high 16 points to help lead Memphis to a 59-50 victory over Tulsa on Saturday. Memphis is now 4-7 overall and 2-4 in the American Athletic Conference.
Tulsa raced out to a 21-10 lead by the conclusion of the first quarter. Memphis answered with a 12-0 run over two minutes, including two three-pointers by sophomore Madison Griggs and one from Beck, late in the second quarter to take a 33-31 lead at halftime. The two teams battled for the duration of the game, but ultimately Memphis managed to maintain control of the court.
"I'm proud of the comeback. The team was really able to get itself together after the first quarter," said Memphis head coach Melissa McFerrin. "For the rest of the game I thought that we played reasonably well, we gave our post players a chance to be impactful and our defense got a lot better."
Senior Alana Davis also totaled 16 points against the Golden Hurricane to tie Beck as Saturday's leading scorer. They were two of three Tigers to score in the double-digits accompanied by senior Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu who recorded her sixth double-double of the season scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
"It feels great to get two straight wins," said Davis. "The last time we played Tulsa it was a close game. so we came into today with that on our minds. We were in it to win it."