Marshall University Athletics
Conference Tournament Bye Focus of Marshall Women
2/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2006
UCF at Marshall Game Notes
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall women's basketball team will begin its final home stand of the 2005-06 regular season when it plays host to UCF on Friday at the Cam Henderson Center. The Thundering Herd and Golden Knights will tip-off at 7 p.m. EST.
This weekend's pair of games to close out the regular season has large Conference USA Tournament seeding implications. If Marshall (13-12, 8-6 C-USA) can win its two remaining games, with a game looming on Sunday against Southern Miss, it will secure at least the No. 4 seed (Seeds 1-4 receive first-round byes). Southern Miss is a game ahead of Marshall and won the previous matchup in Hattiesburg, Miss. If the Herd defeats USM and the teams end the season with the same conference record, Marshall wins the tiebreaker based on its win over Rice. The Herd is 1-2 against the top three teams in the league (Tulsa, SMU, Rice), while Southern Miss is 0-3.
Marshall has followed every win streak this season with the same number of consecutive losses, a trend it will try to snap with a win over UCF (6-19, 4-10). The Herd lost two straight on the heels of a three-game win streak and lost seven of its last 10.
Marshall and UCF will meet for the second time this season and for the third time in history. The Herd holds a 2-0 edge on the Golden Knights, with each game coming in Orlando, making Friday's game UCF's first appearance in Huntington. Marshall came back from a five-point halftime deficit on Jan. 20 behind 17 second-half points from Crystal Champion to upend the Knights, 77-60.
Marshall is one of five teams in C-USA to have three players ranked in the top-30 in scoring within conference play. Sikeetha Shepard-Hall (16.0), Modupe Ishola (11.9) and Reshundra Smiley (10.6) pace the Herd in scoring and account for 60.1 percent of the Herd's offense in C-USA play. The trio has upped those averages within the last five games, with Shepard-Hall averaging 18.8 points during that span and Ishola reaching double-digits in points in a career-high seven straight games.
UCF, losers of seven of nine games, snapped a five-game losing streak with Sunday's 77-62 home win versus Memphis. Like Marshall, two of the Golden Knights' C-USA wins came against the Tigers. However, UCF dealt losses to Tulane and UTEP, suppliers of Marshall's two defeats last weekend.
UCF coach Gail Striegler, a former Royce Chadwick assistant at Stephen F. Austin, helped Chadwick guide the Ladyjacks to NCAA Tournament berths in all five of her seasons in Nacogdoches, Texas, as well as a Sweet 16 appearance in 1996.
UCF guard Francine Houston scores a team-high 12.9 points per game while forward Shelby Weber nets 10.0 with 1.4 blocks per game. The 6-foot-1 Weber, who grabs 7.2 rebounds per game, dropped 24 points on 11-of-12 shooting with nine rebounds against Memphis on Sunday.
The Marshall-UCF game can be heard live on Marshall's student station, WMUL 88.1-FM, which will also utilize a web broadcast at www.marshall.edu/wmul.
Locker Room Club to Host Luncheon, Reception This Weekend
The Locker Room Club (LRC), the booster organization for Marshall women's basketball, will hold its final luncheon of the season on Friday in advance of the team's home game versus UCF.
The luncheon is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at Ponderosa. All LRC members are encouraged to attend and must purchase their own meals.
Following the team's regular season finale versus Southern Miss on Sunday, a reception will be held for LRC members in the Bob Hartley Big Green Room to honor Marshall's graduating class.
