Thursday, March 4
No. RV UCF 58, No. 15/14 USF 45
The UCF women's basketball team closed out the regular season with the first Top 15 win in program history, posting a 58-45 win over No. 14 South Florida in Addition Financial Arena on Thursday evening.
UCF (14-3, 12-2 The American) split the regular season War on I-4 meetings with the Bulls (15-3, 13-2*). The American has declared a forfeit win for USF against Memphis for conference-standings purposes only as a result of the scheduled game from Jan. 17 that was not played. The teams' overall records are not affected.
In a reversal of what happened on Tuesday, UCF came out fired up. Masseny Kaba scored 10 of the Knights' 18 points in the first quarter. The Black and Gold shot 57.1 percent from the floor while holding the Bulls to 20 percent from the field.
The Knights continued to push in the second frame, as Kaba scored less than 30 seconds in to put the Black and Gold in front 20-8. UCF continued its strong showing in the second frame to take a 32-23 lead into the locker rooms.
UCF and South Florida matched each other basket for basket in the third quarter, giving the Knights a 44-35 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
The Knights maintained a double digit lead mostly the entire final quarter. Brittney Smith gave UCF its largest advantage, 51-37, with 6:58 left in the game and the Knights never led the Bulls get closer than 10 points over the remainder of the game.
The UCF defense once again came up, holding the Bulls to a 25.5 field goal percentage for the game. On the flipside, the Knights shot 47.8 percent from the floor.
The Knights also held a 34-8 advantage in the paint and scored 23 points off 15 South Florida turnovers.
UCF has now won five of the last six meetings against the Bulls. The only UCF victory over a ranked opponent came on Feb. 14, 2017 when the Knights defeated then-No. 22 South Florida in Tampa.
Four Knights finished in double figures. Masseny Kaba led all scorers with 16 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Brittney Smith added 13 points. Diamond Battles had 11 points, dished out seven assists and had a game-high five steals. Alisha Lewis chipped in 10 points with four assists.
Temple 66, Memphis 52
Freshman Jasha Clinton scored a game-high 23 points and collected a career-best eight steals as the Temple women's basketball team topped Memphis 66-52 Thursday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. The Owls end the regular season with a mark of 11-10 (11-7 AAC) while Memphis heads home with a record of 4-14 (2-11 AAC).
How It Happened
> The Owls recorded a season-best 19 steals in the win, while tying their season-low of 10 turnovers.
> Temple shot 36.4% from the floor and 71.4% from the foul line. The Owls' three-point shooting suffered as they went 3-for-14 from long range.
> Memphis committed 25 turnovers, the most of any of Temple's opponents this season.
Statistically Speaking
> Junior Alexa Williamson finished just shy of a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds as she tied her career-high four steals.
> Senior Mia Davis was the third Owl to score in double figures with 16 points. The forward added eight rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal to her stat line.
> Senior Emani Mayo chipped in six points and six rebounds for Temple.
> Sophomore Asonah Alexander collected a career-high five steals and dished out five assists to round out the box score.
First Quarter: Temple 18, Memphis 10
> The Owls started the game on an 8-0 run led by Davis with five points.
> Memphis committed eight turnovers in the first quarter, allowing Temple to score six points off the Tigers' mistakes.
> Temple outrebounded Memphis 12-11 in the first frame, including four offensive boards that led to three second-chance points.
Second Quarter: Temple 29, Memphis 29
> The Tigers opened the second quarter on a 4-0 run and didn't allow Temple to score until the 6:18 mark.
> Memphis continued to control the tempo for the remainder of the quarter as they outscored the Owls 19-11.
> The Tigers took a 27-25 lead at 1:28 in the midst of a 6-0 run before Clinton ended the streak with a pair of free throws to tie it back up.
> Both teams traded baskets in the final minute of the half to keep the game tied at the break.
Third Quarter: Memphis 46, Temple 45
> Clinton took control of the third quarter to put the Owls back on top with her nine points and four steals.
> Memphis held a strong 15-8 advantage on the boards as they outscored Temple for the second-straight quarter, 17-16.
> However, Memphis would once again take back the lead with a second-chance layup by Keke Hunter with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Fourth Quarter: Temple 66, Memphis 52
> The Owls collected seven steals in the fourth quarter to score eight points off Memphis' turnovers.
> Temple held the Tigers to just six points in the final frame as the Owls knocked down 21 points.
> The Owls shot 50% from the floor in the final 10 minutes, led once again by Clinton with nine points.