Dec. 13, 2006

Final Stats

Daytona Beach, Fla. - The University of Central Florida snapped a five-game losing skid led by leading scorers Francine Houston and Keunta Miles to breeze past Bethune-Cookman College 62-35 on Wednesday night in a women's basketball affair held at Moore Gymnasium in Daytona Beach, Florida.

UCF broke open what was a tight contest sitting at 13-10 in favor of the Golden Knights (2-8) just midway through the opening half when Miles and Houston started to go to work for the visitors from nearby Orlando. Three-pointers and second-chance points--a 17-5 advantage for UCF, contributed heavily in the ensuing run for the Golden Knights.

Bethune-Cookman (2-5) tried to rally behind Natasha Ferguson and Danetta Simpson, but it was not enough as UCF took a sizeable 34-15 lead into the locker room at the half.

For the Wildcats, it was the third time this year they had been limited to 20 points or less in the first by half by an opponent.

"We were really beaten up on the boards tonight," exclaimed B-CC head coach Francis Simmons. "Defensively, we have to get better, and I think we really need to make some shots because we were our own worst enemy in the first half with missed shots and wide-open lay-ups."

In the second half, Traci Fountain and Tristan McCray hit back-to-back jumpers to bring the Golden Knights lead down to 15 (38-23) with 16:15 left in the game. But the competitiveness of UCF's Celeste Hudson allowed the lead to jump back out to 24 (52-28) as she scored seven points in the midst of a 14-5 run over the course of the next eight minutes for the Golden Knights.

"UCF was just much more physical and aggressive to the loose balls tonight, and that is a weakness of ours right now," continued Simmons. "They did some things on offense that we just couldn't adjust to, and our kids have to learn what to do in those types of situations."

UCF was led on the night by the duo that has driven them all season long--Hudson and Miles. Miles finished the night with a game-high 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor. Hudson added 12 points and four steals to that equation to help out the visiting Golden Knights. They each came into the game averaging right at 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The `Cats were beaten up badly on the boards tonight as UCF controlled the rebounding margin by a count of 48-29, thus adding to their 38-8 scoring advantage in the paint. Though the `Cats of B-CC had a season-low 19 turnovers, that also attributed to a 19-8 scoring advantage for the Golden Knights.

B-CC was led on the night by Fountain's 10 points and five rebounds. It was the second time this season that Fountain has scored in double-digits for the Wildcats.

One of the `Cats biggest factors in the post, Rosanna "Shay" Jones was unable to play due to a nagging back injury, and senior captain Cassandra Calcagno muscled up just four points in 15 minutes of action while being saddled with foul trouble for most of the night. Ferguson chipped in nine points and three rebounds in just her second game as a Wildcat after sitting out last year due to transfer rules alongside teammate Jones.

B-CC will now look to get back on the winning path on Saturday when they host yet another intrastate foe Jacksonville at 2 p.m. inside Moore Gymnasium.