Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UCF
Marshall Women's Basketball Falls at UCF, 68-40
1/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla.- Marshall's Salesse Stovall drained a career-high seven points but it wasn't enough as D'Nay Daniels lead all scorer's with 19 points to lead UCF to a 68-40 win against the Thundering Herd in Sunday afternoon's Conference USA women's basketball matchup at UCF Arena.
Tynikki Crook rebounded from her three point performance with her ninth double-double of the season, finishing the afternoon with 12 points and 12 boards.UCF (11-8, 4-2 C-USA) has grabbed three straight victories against the Thundering Herd dating back to last season. The Thundering Herd (5-13, 1-4 C-USA) clings to a 7-6 series lead versus the Knights.
The Knights jumped out to a quick 11-3 lead, hitting five of its first six shots (83.3 %) in the opening minutes.
The Thundering Herd put together a run with under seven minutes left in the half sparked by a Dorina Barrett three for her first points of the night. Stovall's first three point basket of her collegiate career was followed by Barrett's second shot from beyond the arc to bring the game to a 27-13 mark.
Crook laid in her first bucket from the floor and followed with a pair of free throws, while Alaya Mitchell chipped in a jumper to get in on the action to cap off a 15-4 run and bring the Thundering Herd within eight at 27-19.
"We had spurts in the first half where we showed a lot of life," head coach Royce Chadwick said. "I think we ran out of gas before time was up. Some of our freshmen played quality minutes but they made some uncharacteristic mistakes."
D'Nay Daniels would halt the Herd comeback going four-for-six from the free throw line in the final 1:43 of the half, to lead all scorers at the break with 10 points and take a 31-21 advantage into intermission.
UCF exploded out of the half outscoring Marshall 23-7 in the first 8:22 of the second half, shooting 80 percent from three point land and 64.3 percent from the floor during the span to put the game out of reach.
Chelsie Wiley and Jelisa Caldwell also hit double-figures from the Knights, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"In the end our seven kids were exhausted and we are going to have to regroup for next week," Chadwick continued.
MU is winless in its last four contests and are 1-6 on the road this season.
The Thundering Herd returns home and looks to retaliate against conference foe Memphis on Thursday, Jan. 27th. The Tigers defeated MU in the conference season-opener on Jan. 6th, 74-54, at Fed Ex Forum. Marshall concludes the month in Birmingham, Ala., as the Herd battles UAB on Jan. 30.
