Articles

Masseny Kaba Scores 18 in Road Win over UC Davis

The UCF Knights started their third and longest winning streak of the season, holding off the UC Davis Aggies in a narrow, seven-point win.

Victor Tan

December 18, 2017

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Masseny Kaba 1 — University of Central Florida forward Masseny Kaba shoots the ball during a 53-43 win over Northern Iowa Panthers at CFE Arena on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017. (Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Game Recap

UCF Knights freshman Masseny Kaba hasn’t made a name for herself as a scorer, yet, but she took a step in that direction in a 62-55 road win over the UC Davis Aggies on Dec. 17.

The forward scored a game-high 18 points and tallied 6 rebounds in a career-high 35 minutes. Point guard Korneila Wright added 16 points and 3 assists, as Zakiya Saunders and Aliyah Gregory combined for just 19 points on 7-for-27 shooting.

Kaba got her career performance started early, scoring 10 of the Knights’ 18 first-quarter points off a variety of jumpers and inside-the-paint efforts. That spearheaded a seemingly overwhelming 39-18 halftime lead and positioned the Knights for their fourth blowout win of the year. A resurgent Aggies team made it a game, though, scoring 18 in the third and holding UCF to just seven.

The Knights scored four of their seven points within the first minute and a half of the third but allowed the Aggies to go on an 18-3 run to close the quarter. UC Davis’ third-quarter push was led by Morgan Bertsch, Nina Bessolo and Dani Nafekh, as they scored 14, 11 and 7, respectively.

UCF kept its lead and victory safe with a 16-point fourth quarter led by Wright’s seven points and one assist.

Player of the Game: F Masseny Kaba

Kaba finished the game an efficient 9-for-11 from the field to tally her career-high 18 points. Four of her six rebounds were offensive boards. She also finished with a steal and a first quarter-ending block. Kaba has started the past six games.

What’s next?

The Knights stay in California for the week and will play the Pacific Tigers on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

NDR Notes

Kaba finished with career-highs in points (18), minutes (35), field-goal attempts (11) and field-goal makes (9).
Saunders and UCF leading scorer Gregory combined for just 19 points on 7-for-27 shooting.
Kaba has started the last six games.
The Knights have started their third winning streak of the season and are, so far, on their longest (three games). Previous win streaks never went further than two games.

Scoring

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
UC Davis Aggies	10	8	18	19	55
UCF Knights	18	21	7	16	62

Statistics and Starting Lineups

Team Leaders

	UC Davis Aggies	UCF Knights
Points	Morgan Bertsch (14)	Masseny Kaba (18)
Rebounds	Pele Gianotti, Cierra Hall (9)	Nyala Shuler (14)
Assists	Dani Nafekh (3)	Zakiya Saunders (6)
Blocks	Morgan Bertsch (3)	Masseny Kaba (1)
Steals	Nina Bessolo (3)	Korneila Wright (4)
Turnovers	Morgan Bertsch, Dani Nafekh, Kourtney Eaton (3)	Korneila Wright (3)
Minutes	Morgan Bertsch, Dani Nafekh (31)	Zakiya Saunders (39)