Postgame thoughts: Women's basketball makes early exit in C-USA tournament

Looking to put a less than stellar regular season behind them, UCF arrived at the Conference USA Tournament in Memphis, Tenn. in as good of a position a team riding a four-game losing streak could ask for.

As the No. 8 seed they drew No. 9 seed Southern Miss in the first round; a team they had beaten twice during the regular season.

Click here to read the UCF Athletics recap of the game.

Still, another unexpected loss and upset of the Knights would come to fruition as UCF fell to Southern Miss Wednesday, 71-49.

What seems more frustrating about this loss in tournament play is that the usual suspects of lackadaisical offense, sloppy ball handling, and the inability to cash in at the line did the Knights in.

Execution was key and was nowhere to be found.

They were unable to adjust despite outrebounding the Golden Eagles by a 46-30 margin, 24 of them offensive boards. They had 17 second-chance points put 22 turnovers turned into 28 points for Southern Miss.

The only silver lining to this early knockout?

Aisha Patrick's three steals that now place her in a tie with Chariya Davis' school career steals record of 284.

It was a rough night of shooting, not only for Patrick, but for the entire team, as they shot just 30 percent from the field and a measly 16 percent from three-point range, an area the Knights need to shore up tremendously in order to become a serious threat to opponents next season.

With the loss UCF becomes the third defending Conference USA champion to lose in the first round the following season. The Knights finish with a 12-17 record after losing five games in a row to end the season.