ORLANDO, Fla. – The Knights (8-10, 1-6) continued their downward spiral Wednesday night, losing their sixth game in a row to conference opponent Rutgers (14-4, 5-2), 69-48. It is their ninth loss in ten games, a trend that began way back on December 13th with a double overtime loss in Boca Raton.
The starting five actually performed admirably, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 42-21. Both Sara Djassi and Stephanie Taylor scored 14 points, though it was Taylor who had the most effective day for the Knights, sinking all eight of her free-throw attempts and leading the team with nine rebounds.
However, UCF was torn asunder by the Rutgers’ production of the bench, which put up a massive 48 points – as much as the entire Knights’ offense, and 42 more than the home team could muster from the reserves.
It seemed there was just no answer for opposing Freshman Kahleah Cooper, who bled the Knights for 16 points, sinking eight of her nine attempts.
Behind 38-26 at the intermission, UCF was never able to wrestle the lead away, playing from behind in the entire second half. As a team they were not able to produce much at all with the opportunities in their path, shooting a paltry 25% from the field by only making 14 of their 56 attempts.
The Knights look to turn things around in Cincinnati on Friday night against the Bearcats, who hold the exact same record as UCF. The game is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. at Fifth Third Arena.
