Knights shake off FAMU, 67-51

Coming off from a heartbreaking triple overtime loss in South Alabama last week, junior guard Genevia Carter came into Friday night's home game with the mindset to win. And that's exactly what she did as she poured in a game-high 21 points to help her teammates defeat the Florida A&M Rattlers, 67-51.

"It's my job," Carter said. "I just go out and play my role and do what my team needs me to do."

Senior guard Aisha Patrick chipped in a double-double scoring 17 points from shooting eight of 16 from the field and hauled in 11 rebounds.

She also had four assists and four steals to contribute to the team's win over the Rattlers.

"I need to step up for my team and do what it takes." Patrick said.

But it was Carter who had the most efficient shooting night out of all players on the floor making eight of 10 baskets. Carter even nailed 75 percent of her three-pointers (three of four).

"[Carter] has the ability to score and score quickly," head coach Joi Williams said. "We feel very good about her ability when defenses focus on [Patrick]. I thought she really took some good shots. I don't think she took a bad shot tonight."

Apart from Carter's excellent shooting, she evidently struggled from the charity stripe going an abysmal two of nine attempts.

"I'm just not real pleased with her free throw performance, but I know she will improve on that because she's going to get fouled." Williams said.

Patrick wasn't the only Knight who had a double-double for the game.

Sophomore forward Erika Jones had 13 points and raked in 13 rebounds to give the team an additional lift.

The first half of the game began as a highly defensive yet low-scoring effort from both the Knights and the Rattlers. The Knights led by only one point at the end of the first half making it a scrappy battle.

"We did a pretty good job at keeping our composure," Williams sad. "We had a few lapses in the first half and the second half. We had some turnovers that were pretty careless on our part, but we knew FAMU was going to fly around, and they're athletic, so they're going to pressure us. But all in all, I thought we handled the pressure pretty well."

In the beginning of the second half, the Knights held on tight and still went down as much as seven points around the 15:33 mark.

However, the Knights then cranked up the offensive tempo and went on a run around the 10-minute mark to save themselves from an upset at home. They extended their lead to at most 16 points to win them the ball game.

UCF will host its next home game against Mercer University this Sunday starting at 2 p.m.