The UCF Knights Women’s Basketball team picked up one of the most significant regular season wins in recent program history in Tampa with a defensive clinic in a 54-33 win over the South Florida Bulls. The win all but wrapped up the AAC regular season title for the Knights (18-3,10-1), with effectively a three-game lead over the Bulls (17-7, 7-3) when including the sweep. UCF Women’s Hoops has not won a conference championship of any kind since the 2011 C-USA Tournament title.

How did the Knights dominate the Bulls?

1. Defense Wins Championships

The Knights defense rattled the Bulls offense all game long, holding them to a season low 33 points on 28% from the field, and took away the Bulls 3-point shot, holding them to 2/19. UCF forced USF into 17 turnovers, scoring 20 points off those turnovers.

It is the 14th time in the “Abe era” that UCF has held an opponent under 40 points. It is the fewest points South Florida has ever scored against UCF.

2. UCF Dominated the Paint

UCF outscored USF in the paint, 32-10. South Florida had no answer for Brittney Smith (17) and Masseny Kaba (14), as both combined for 31 points on 14/24 from the field.

3. UCF All But Wraps Up the AAC Regular Season Title

With the win, UCF locks up the tiebreaker over USF to go along with a two-game lead in the standings with four games to go. Barring a stunning collapse, UCF will be the AAC regular season champions, which will be the program’s first regular season championship since winning the A-Sun regular season title in 2005.