ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF Knights made the most of a two-game home stand to regain traction in the standings.
After playing the two best American Athletic Conference teams on the road, yielding losses in games against the No. 1 UConn Huskies and the USF Bulls, UCF returned to the comfort of CFE Arena for games against two of the conference’s worst teams.
The Knights (13-7, 5-2 in AAC), first, earned a 59-51 win over the Tulane Green Wave on Jan. 17. They then beat the SMU Mustangs 58-43 Saturday afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 3,176.
“I think film really helps. It doesn’t lie, and it shows what we need to get better at,” second-year Knights head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said after the win. “… I thought what the X-factor was…[point guard Korneila Wright] ‘cause Kay Kay–every time we played SMU last year and this year, she got in foul trouble.
“So her goal today was to not get in foul trouble. Look at what she did out on the floor.”
While Wright filled the stat sheet, she avoided fouls altogether. In addition to her 11-point, 7-assist performance, Wright didn’t record a single personal foul in a game-high 39 minutes of play.
The sophomore, however, played second fiddle to Zakiya Saunders and her game-leading 23 points. Saunders was instrumental in the Knights pulling away from SMU in the fourth quarter, as she scored 12 of UCF’s 13 fourth-quarter points.
Saunders, who shot 10-for-21, including 3-for-5 from 3, added a game-high 5 assists and 6 rebounds in 36 minutes.
“You know, just going through the flow of our offense and taking shots when I’m open, passing the ball when other people are open,” Saunders said after beating SMU. “So, it’s really not about me; it’s about, you know, how our team executes our sets.”
Saunders’ had an unusual offensive outing for an Abrahramson-Henderson team that seemingly tries to avoid shooting 3s. In the first quarter, Saunders banked a buzzer-beating triple for an 18-11 lead. She followed that effort with two more 3s in the fourth quarter.
“Honestly, I don’t think about it. If it’s open, I’ll shoot it; if not, then I won’t,” Saunders said. “It’s not really part of my game, but, if it’s something that’s, you know, there, then I’ll shoot it.”
The Knights entered the second half with a narrow six-point lead, but that lead grew to double digits less than three minutes into the third. SMU’s Ariana Whitfield drained a quarter-opening 3 just 12 seconds into the third, but that was as close as the Mustangs came the rest of the game.
UCF, then, went on a 10-0 run, scoring inside the paint and earning shots at the foul line. Wright contributed 3 points with a solo sequence that included a steal, an and-1 layup and a made free throw.
The Knights grew their lead to as high as 16 points in the fourth, as Saunders hit a layup off an assist by Wright with 2:40 to play.
“I really wish that halftime wasn’t so long because the teams kinda lose their fire, and then they come back out, and then they gotta get it back going. Because, to be honest, that’s what it looked like,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “[SMU] cut it to three within the first two minutes of the third quarter, and so we had to really, you know, get up in our press and keep pressuring ‘em and just really disrupt them so they couldn’t run their sets.”
Who’s Next?
The Knights take to the road for a two-game road trip, starting with the University of Tulsa on Saturday and concluding the month with a road game against the Cincinnati Bearcats.
For more on the Knights, as they take to the road for a two-game trip, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.
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