– Gold for Williams –

Serving as an assistant coach in her first appearance working with USA Basketball, Williams helped lead the USA Women’s U-18 National Team to a 5-0 record at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

On Sunday, the U.S. team scored a huge 81-38 win over Brazil in the gold-medal game of the FIBA America U-18 Championship. Six players scored at least nine points in the game en route to the title.

Williams, the 2009 Conference USA Coach of the Year, coached alongside Florida State’s Sue Semrau and head coach Jennifer Rizzoti out of Hartford. Williams enters her fourth season with the Knights later this year when UCF opens the 2010-11 season at the Women’s National Invitational Tournament for the first time in program history.

– Sixth for James –

After recently wrapping up her track and field career as a UCF Knight this past season, James posted a time of 13.25 seconds on Saturday in the 100-meter hurdles finals of the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

That effort was good for sixth place behind professionals Lolo Jones (12.69), Kellie Wells (12.84), Damu Cherry (12.86) Ginnie Powell (12.90) and Tiffany Ofili (13.04) despite running into a stiff wind of 2.1 meters per second. James, who holds the UCF school record in the event, qualified sixth for the finals in 13.24 seconds.

Former college teammate Jackie Coward competed against James in the same semifinal heat and missed qualifying for the finals with a time of 13.50. Two weeks ago Coward finished her sophomore season as an outdoor All-American at the NCAA Track & Field Championships.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

Despite the ups and downs for the two programs over the course of 2009-10, there seems to be enough in place for a strong turnaround next season.

– Men’s Hoops –

On Thursday, the men’s team fell 76-54 to No. 21 UTEP as the Knights played most of the way without Marcus Jordan and P.J. Gaynor as Jordan rolled an ankle and Gaynor took a knee to the ribs.

Marcus Jordan (left) and Keith Clanton (Photo by Chris Schubert)

But by the time those injuries took place, though, the Miners already had complete control of the game as they eventually took a 28-point lead into the halftime break.

The Knights finished the season with a 15-17 overall mark and showed signs of good days to come with one of the youngest squads in the nation.

Jordan and Keith Clanton ended the year having been named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team. Clanton blocked 45 shots and averaged 9.7 points on 48-percent shooting from the field along with 6.8 rebounds per game. Jordan averaged eight points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and tallied 37 steals on the year.

Sophomore A.J. Rompza, who was named to the C-USA Freshman Team a year ago, finished the season with the fourth most steals in a single season at UCF with 81, and now ranks 10th all-time in that category with 127 swipes. Rompza’s 144 assists are the sixth most in a season for the program. He also averaged 8.6 points per game.

Sophomore Isaac Sosa now ranks No. 10 in school history with 130 career 3-pointers made. Sosa and A.J. Tyler led the knights in scoring this season with 10.3 points per game. Tyler also grabbed five rebounds per game.

UCF opened the C-USA tourney at Tulsa as the No. 9 seed and outshot No. 8 SMU, 69-53, in the opening round.

– Women’s Hoops –

On Tuesday, the eighth-seeded Lady Knights rallied from an 11-point deficit but couldn’t hold on to a three-point lead with a minute to go as they were turned away by top-seeded Tulane, 63-62.

Emma Cannon (left) and Chelsie Wiley (Photo by J.C. Carnahan)

The loss ended UCF’s season with an 11-16 overall record, just one year removed from winning the conference title and playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Juniors Chelsie Wiley and Emma Cannon surpassed career milestones this season as they both eclipsed the 1,000-point mark. Cannon surpassed the mark in a loss against Notre Dame and has now compiled 1,154 points (5th all-time) and 903 rebounds (2nd all-time) in her career. Wiley became the program’s 13th 1,000-point scorer in February and now ranks No. 8 all-time on that list with 1,069 points.

Wiley (11.5 points per game), Marshay White (11.3) and Cannon (11) led the team in scoring this season. Cannon, a C-USA All-Conference Third Team selection, also averaged 10 rebounds per game and finished with 18 blocked shots.

Aisha Patrick grabbed 63 steals and averaged 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists on the year. D’Nay Daniels averaged 9.8 points and 6.1 rebounds, while Angelica Mealing averaged 3.7 assists per game.

The Knights opened tournament play by defeating ninth-seeded Marshall in overtime, 59-57.

On Tuesday at UCF Arena the defending C-USA champs return to the court to take on No. 3 Notre Dame (10-0) at 12 p.m.

UCF enters the game at 3-5 overall with the C-USA part of the schedule getting underway on Jan. 8 at Marshall.

Emma Cannon (Photo by J.C. Carnahan)

The Knights have won big against Bethune Cookman, Jacksonville and Jackson State this season while suffering losses to No. 24 Middle Tennessee State, Washington, Florida Atlantic, Alabama and No. 10 Florida State.

Cannon, the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year, earned her first weekly conference award this season after going for double-doubles in three straight games against Alabama (23 points, 13 rebounds), Florida State (16 points, 15 rebounds), and Jackson State (13 points, 10 rebounds).

She won three weekly awards a season ago and has led the team in scoring in five different games rebounding in six different games this season. Cannon enters Tuesday’s game averaging 14.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game this year with highs of 23 points and 18 rebounds.

Carter, who has continued to earn playing time as the season progresses, averaged 8.3 points over the past three contests in just 15 minute of action per outing.

After the league schedule gets underway against Marshall (6-4) the Knights will again be on the road at East Carolina (10-1) on Jan. 10. UCF will then return to Orlando for a three-game swing against Memphis (5-6), UAB (5-6) and Southern Miss (4-7) beginning Jan. 15.

- More UCF women’s basketball –

– Video of team returning from C-USA Tournament last season at WFTV

– To nominate athletic performances for inclusion each Wednesday to the Top-5 list of Orlando Sports Central Standouts, send over an email to JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com –

1.) Zack Greinke – Kansas City Royals – The 2002 Apopka High School grad and first round draft pick that year by the Kansas City Royals was named the American League Cy Young award winner last week. Although the Royals finished just 65-97, Greinke went 16-8 with 242 strikeouts and a Major League Baseball-best 2.16 ERA to snag 25 of 28 first-place votes.

2.) Kevin Elliot and Alvis Graham – Florida A&M Rattlers – The former Colonial High School teammates made major contributions on Saturday for FAMU at the 30^th Annual Florida Classic to help lead the Rattlers to a 42-6 win over Bethune-Cookman. Elliot entered the game leading the team in receiving with 42 catches for 545 yards and 6 touchdowns. He scored a touchdown and recovered a fumble on Saturday while Graham led FAMU with six tackles. Graham entered the game with a team-high 62 tackles, 5.5 for a loss and one sack.

3.) Patrick Mputu – Winter Park Wildcats – Not only did the standout running back at Winter Park score the game-winning touchdown with 39 seconds remaining in the 50-47 opening round playoff win over Lake Brantley, but Mputu scored three times in the final quarter of the game. He finished the night with 199 yards in 26 carries, good for 7.7 yards per carry, after ending the regular season third in the area with 1,302 yards on the year.

Marshay White

4.) Marshay White – UCF Knights – The junior guard for the UCF women’s basketball team scored a career-high 23 points in the 80-46 win over Bethune-Cookman in the 2009-10 home opener for the Knights. The win kept alive a nine-game home win streak for the team at UCF Arena. White made four three-pointers and shot 9-of-17 while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out six assists in the win.

5.) Erin Campbell – UCF Knights – Despite starring for a volleyball squad that went just 12-18 overall and 3-13 in Conference USA, Campbell ended her career at UCF with an all-C-USA Second Team selection. The nod is just the second postseason honor for the program as Stephanie Serna also received the distinction a year ago. Campbell entered the season finale against USF (which UCF won in five sets) with 383 kills and ranked in the all-time top-10 lists for six different statistical career categories.

More ––

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 11/18/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 11/11/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 11/4/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 10/28/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 10/21/09

Orlando Sports Central Standouts – 10/14/09