Aliyah Gregory’s Game-high 16 Points Lead UCF to Win over UNI

(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Game Recap

ORLANDO, Fla. – UCF Knights guard Aliyah Gregory had one of her worst performances of the season in the UCF Thanksgiving Classic opener against the IUPUI Jaguars. She scored six points in just 20 minutes, as she was sidelined for the entire first half after recording two fouls within the game’s first three minutes.

For Gregory, however, she entered the annual Thanksgiving classic’s finale unfazed from her near-season-low performance against IUPUI. Gregory helped the Knights (4-3) beat the Northern Iowa Panthers (2-3) 53-43 with a game-high 16 points Sunday afternoon at CFE Arena.

“Of course, when you don’t score a lot of points, or, you know, you’re not making the shots that you wanna make, it can get—kinda affects you mentally, but my coaches and my teammates made sure it didn’t affect me mentally,” Gregory said after the Knights’ second double-digit win of the season. “So, even after yesterday, I didn’t feel any type of way. I was fine going into today, going into shootaround, everything like that. I had the right mindset, and that was just because my coaches and teammates had my back.”

During the third quarter, the Knights claimed their first double-digit lead of the game. After UNI came within one point at the 6:15 mark behind a Kennedy Kirkpatrick layup, point guard Jamesha Paul led UCF on an 11-2 run with UCF leading just 29-28. Paul started her effort with a baseline, and-1 jumper that she converted for a three-point play. Kirkpatrick then made a layup before Nyala Shuler’s putback score. Paul then capped her contribution with another jumper from the same spot. Gregory completed the run with a jumper and made it a 40-30 game with 2:16 in the third.

“Not a lot of people can catch and shoot and do pull-up jumpers. People are either all threes or drive to the basket really hard, right?” UCF head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said after the win. “So, what we do is really hard to guard… And so with Meesh doing those, and Meesh has been working on it a lot. I think Meesh, in the third quarter, she was the one that came off the bench and really sparked us. She sparked us defensively; she was getting tips, and then she hit some of those shots, and she came off the bench with some great energy.”

UCF found the separation it needed in the second quarter, as the Knights held UNI to just nine points on 28.6 percent shooting in the second quarter. The Panthers scored just one point until the 2:50 mark, as Megan Maahs made one of her two free throws to make it a 21-14 game midway through the second. Kirkpatrick, then, helped UNI come within five points of the Knights before halftime, scoring her team’s final six points of the half, as UCF entered halftime leading just 27-22.

Despite UCF jumping out to an early 6-0 lead, the Panthers kept the game within reach, shooting 3-for-9 from deep. One of UNI’s threes was a buzzer-beating effort from near midcourt by Maahs. That would be it for the UNI perimeter attack, though, as the Panthers shot 3-for-21 from three-point range the entire game.

“We just played our defense,” Gregory said. “I think in the first quarter—I don’t wanna say we started out slow, but we were letting ‘em get off way too many threes. And I think the first quarter was the quarter that they made those three threes, and, for the rest of the game, we made sure we were getting out to shooters. We were making shoot shots they didn’t wanna shoot, and, of course, their percentage went down.”

Player of the Game: G Aliyah Gregory

Gregory impressed in her bounce-back game, scoring 16 points on 8-for-17 shooting. She also had an assist and two rebounds in 31 minutes of play and went 4-for-6 from the field in the second quarter.

What’s next?

The Knights take to the road for one game, facing the Samford Bulldogs on Thursday.

Fifi Ndour Suffered Knee Injury, Sat for 2nd Half

Forward Fifi Ndour, who came off the bench for the second-consecutive game after starting the first five, suffered a left-knee injury. She was slow to get up, saying she hyperextended her knee, and had to be carried off the court by two teammates.

Abrahamson-Henderson is unaware of her status, at the moment.

“Nobody’s told me anything, yet,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “But she seemed great in the locker room, so…”

Said Abrahamson-Henderson on Ndour coming off the bench: “I’m gonna start whoever’s ready to play defense and whoever’s gonna have good games. I think everybody could start this year. I should just mix up the lineup just to keep everybody confused because that’s the kind of team you really wanna have; everybody’s good enough to start. So it shouldn’t matter who comes off the bench, starting or not.

“But the people that I put on the floor for game day or the people that, throughout that week, play really good defense and commit to defense, and so you’ll see our lineup change a bunch.”

Before Sunday’s injury against Northern Iowa, Ndour was averaging 11.3 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game 29.7 minutes per game.

With Ndour injured, that gave freshman Ruona Uwusiaba a chance to play in her second game of the year. She made her debut against Gardner-Webb University and recorded two rebounds. Against UNI, she scored her first points as a Knight, going 2-for-2 from the field in six minutes of action. Uwusiaba scored UCF’s final four points of the game off assists by Gregory and point guard Korneila Wright.

“She’s adorable. I knew she was gonna catch those passes, and they wanted her to catch those passes, and they had confidence enough to throw it to her, Aliyah and Kay Kay,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “But I knew she was gonna catch it. That’s like little sister catching her big sister’s passes. She caught ’em, and she was not gonna let ’em down ’causes he knew if Aliyah Gregory’s throwing the ball, and Kay Kay’s throwing her the ball, then she better make it. That’s in her head; that’s how she thinks.

“So, I’m really excited she got an opportunity to play and, you know, felt a little comfortable out there because she’s a great size, a great body. Obviously we gotta get her better, and she needs to get a lot more playing time.”

Opponents’ Offensive Rebounding a Problem for UCF

Over the past two games, the Knights have allowed two teams to collect 33 offensive rebounds. Against IUPUI, freshman Macee Williams had nine to herself. UNI’s Maahs and Ellie Howell each had five to themselves in the Knights’ win on Sunday.

“We just aren’t boxing out,” Gregory said. “I think we’re leaking out in transition, and, a lot of times, we just watch the shot go up… We focused on that a little bit last week in practice, and I think, upcoming, we’re gonna do the same thing; focus on boxing out, putting bodies on people and not just watching the shot go up and then going to get the ball.”

Highlights

Ny with the board AND the putback!

Let’s go! #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/3Cr0kjCunH

— UCF Women’s Hoops (@UCF_WBB) November 26, 2017

Ny with the board AND the putback!

Let’s go! #ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/3Cr0kjCunH

— UCF Women’s Hoops (@UCF_WBB) November 26, 2017

NDR Notes

• With Ndour injured, Uwusiaba made her second appearance of the season and scored her first collegiate points. She made her debut in an eight-minute outing against Gardner-Webb University.
• At 4-3, the Knights have a winning record for the second time this season. UCF was 2-1 after earning wins over the Chattanooga Mocs and Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs.
• The win over Northern Iowa marks the Knights’ second double-digit victory this season. UCF’s first double-digit win was a 65-30 decision over Gardner-Webb.
• UNI collected 19 offensive rebounds, as the Knights only totaled seven.

Scoring

Statistics and Starting Lineups

Team Leaders

Team Statistics

Shooting Percentages

UCF Knights starting lineup: Korneila Wright (G), Lawriell Wilson (G), Aliyah Gregory (G), Nyala Shuler (F), Masseny Kaba (F)

UNI Panthers starting lineup: Ellie Howell (G), Kennedy Kirkpatrick (G), Mikaela Morgan (G), Heidi Hillyard (F), Megan Maahs (F)

For more on the Knights, as they prepare for a one-game road trip against the Bulldogs, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.