2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team

2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball
2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	12–17 (3–15 Big 12)
Head coach	Sytia Messer (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	Mike Carey; Chandler McCabe; Tasha Taylor;
Home arena	Addition Financial Arena
	Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

2023–24 Big 12 Conference women's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 21 Oklahoma	15	–	3	.833	23	–	10	.697
No. 7 Texas †	14	–	4	.778	33	–	5	.868
No. 19 Kansas State	13	–	5	.722	26	–	8	.765
No. 25 Iowa State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	12	.636
No. 13 Baylor	12	–	6	.667	26	–	8	.765
No. 24 West Virginia	12	–	6	.667	25	–	8	.758
Kansas	11	–	7	.611	20	–	13	.606
Oklahoma State	7	–	11	.389	14	–	16	.467
TCU	6	–	12	.333	21	–	12	.636
BYU	6	–	12	.333	16	–	17	.485
Cincinnati	5	–	13	.278	14	–	18	.438
Texas Tech	5	–	13	.278	17	–	16	.515
Houston	5	–	13	.278	14	–	16	.467
UCF	3	–	15	.167	12	–	17	.414

† 2024 Big 12 tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team represents the University of Central Florida during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Knights, are led by second-year head coach Sytia Messer and play their home games at the Addition Financial Arena as members of the Big 12 Conference.^[1]^[2]

Previous season[edit]

The Knights finished the 2022–23 season 14–15, 4–11 in AAC play to finish in tenth place. As a 10th seed in the AAC Women's tournament they defeated Cincinnati in the first round before losing to Memphis in the quarterfinals.

Offseason[edit]

Departures[edit]

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Kiera Brown	4	G	5'9"	Sophomore	Riviera Beach, FL
Tiani Abrams	5	G	6'1"	Freshman	Vista, CA	Transferred to Northern Colorado
Becca Ripley	11	G	6'0"	Senior	Stratham, NH	Graduated
Rachel Ranke	12	G	6'1"	GS Senior	Burnsville, MN	Graduated
Bryana Hardy	20	F	6'2"	Freshman	Lovejoy, GA
Ashley Foster	24	G	5'8"	Senior	McDonough, GA	Graduated
Destiny Thomas	33	F	6'2"	Senior	Atlanta, GA	Graduated
Ashton Verhulst	42	F	6'2"	Junior	De Soto, KS	Walk-on; left the team

Incoming transfers[edit]

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Kaitlin Peterson	3	G	5'9"	Junior	Eufaula, AL	Indiana
Jayla Kelly	24	C	6'3"	Senior	Chesterfield, MO	Missouri
Mary McMillan	42	G	5'6"	Senior	Apopka, FL	UNC Wilmington

Recruiting[edit]

There were no recruiting classing class of 2023.

Roster[edit]

2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Laila Jewett	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Jr	Bishop Ireton	Woodbridge, VA
G	3	Kaitlin Peterson	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Jr	Eufaula Indiana	Eufaula, AL
G	10	Mya Burns	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	GS	North Augusta Georgia Southern	North Augusta, SC
F	11	Achol Akot	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	Fr	Capital Courts Academy	Ottawa, ON
G	14	Asia Todd	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	GS	Clayton Liberty	Clayton, NC
F	15	Taylor Gibson	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Jr	Bishop McNamara Michigan	Upper Marlboro, MD
G	21	Timia Ware	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	Jr	Whitney Young Magnet LSU	Chicago, IL
G	22	Sierra Godbolt	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	So	Lake Highland Prep	Orlando, FL
F	23	Anzhané Hutton	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Sr	Cedar Hill Howard	Dallas, TX
C	24	Jayla Kelly	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Sr	Parkway Central Missouri	Chesterfield, MO
G	30	Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	GS	Norcross Gulf Coast State College	Norcross, GA
C	35	Khyala Ngodu	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Fr	Dillard	Fort Lauderdale, FL
G	42	Mary McMillan	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	Sr	Apopka UNC Wilmington	Apopka, FL

Head coach

Sytia Messer (Arkansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Tennille Adams (Arkansas)
Greg Brown (Lipscomb)
Michelle Edwards (Iowa)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule[edit]

^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 6, 2023* 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Bethune–Cookman	W 101–63	1–0	Addition Financial Arena (3,225) Orlando, FL
November 13, 2023* 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Anderson	W 96–73	2–0	Addition Financial Arena (740) Orlando, FL
November 20, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Auburn	W 60–53	3–0	Addition Financial Arena (1,180) Orlando, FL
November 23, 2023* 3:00 p.m., FloSports		vs. Jackson State Discover Puerto Rico Classic	W 63–54	4–0	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (250) San Juan, PR
November 24, 2023* 3:00 p.m., FloSports		vs. St. John's Discover Puerto Rico Classic	W 61–48	5–0	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (250) San Juan, PR
November 25, 2023* 5:30 p.m., FloSports		vs. Sacred Heart Discover Puerto Rico Classic	W 69–58	6–0	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (250) San Juan, PR
December 3, 2023* 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Campbell	W 42–41	7–0	Addition Financial Arena (1,072) Orlando, FL
December 11, 2023* 11:00 a.m., BIG12/ESPN+		New Orleans	W 72–45	8–0	Addition Financial Arena (1,238) Orlando, FL
December 18, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Florida Atlantic	L 58–59	8–1	Addition Financial Arena (797) Orlando, FL
December 19, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Morgan State	W 67–41	9–1	Addition Financial Arena (787) Orlando, FL
Big 12 Conference regular season
December 30, 2023 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma	L 52–69	9–2 (0–1)	Lloyd Noble Center (3,835) Norman, OK
January 3, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Oklahoma State	L 61–68	9–3 (0–2)	Addition Financial Arena (1,230) Orlando, FL
January 6, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 11 Kansas State	L 56–72	9–4 (0–3)	Addition Financial Arena (1,154) Orlando, FL
January 10, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Cincinnati	L 63–64	9–5 (0–4)	Fifth Third Arena (587) Cincinnati, OH
January 13, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 24 West Virginia	L 59–76	9–6 (0–5)	Addition Financial Arena (1,374) Orlando, FL
January 20, 2024 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 12 Baylor	L 74–77	9–7 (0–6)	Foster Pavilion (5,089) Waco, TX
January 23, 2024 7:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at TCU	L 60–66	9–8 (0–7)	Schollmaier Arena (2,249) Fort Worth, TX
January 27, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Houston	W 92–87 ^OT	10–8 (1–7)	Addition Financial Arena (1,092) Orlando, FL
January 30, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 23 West Virginia	L 43–84	10–9 (1–8)	WVU Coliseum (1,608) Morgantown, WV
February 3, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Iowa State	W 71–66	11–9 (2–8)	Addition Financial Arena (1,088) Orlando, FL
February 7, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Cincinnati	L 61–67	11–10 (2–9)	Addition Financial Arena (1,108) Orlando, FL
February 10, 2024 8:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Texas Tech	W 69–64	12–10 (3–9)	United Supermarkets Arena (4,511) Lubbock, TX
February 13, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		BYU	L 60–64	12–11 (3–10)	Addition Financial Arena (849) Orlando, FL
February 17, 2024 5:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 7 Kansas State	L 58–60	12–12 (3–11)	Bramlage Coliseum (6,316) Manhattan, KS
February 21, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma State	L 54–67	12–13 (3–12)	Gallagher-Iba Arena (1,819) Stillwater, OK
February 24, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 5 Texas	L 56–87	12–14 (3–13)	Addition Financial Arena (1,621) Orlando, FL
February 28, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Kansas	L 53–65	12–15 (3–14)	Addition Financial Arena (1,071) Orlando, FL
March 2, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Houston	L 67–68	12–16 (3–15)	Fertitta Center (1,141) Houston, TX
Big 12 Conference Tournament
March 7, 2024 9:00 p.m., ESPN+	(14)	vs. (11) Cincinnati First Round	L 62–67	12–17	T-Mobile Center (2,824) Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ^[4]^[5]

References[edit]

^ Stein, Danielle (October 12, 2023). "UCF's basketball teams enter inaugural Big 12 season as underdogs". Spectrum News 13. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^ Murschel, Matt (October 11, 2023). "UCF basketball prepares for challenges in inaugural Big 12 season". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^ "2023–24 (W) Basketball Schedule". UCF Athletics. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
^ "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ANNOUNCES 2023-24 NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE". ucfknights.com. September 25, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
^ "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL UNVEILS 2023-24 BIG 12 SCHEDULE". ucfknights.com. September 27, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.

[1] Stein, Danielle (October 12, 2023). "UCF's basketball teams enter inaugural Big 12 season as underdogs". Spectrum News 13. Retrieved November 27, 2023.

[2] Murschel, Matt (October 11, 2023). "UCF basketball prepares for challenges in inaugural Big 12 season". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 27, 2023.

[3] "2023–24 (W) Basketball Schedule". UCF Athletics. Retrieved December 11, 2023.

[4] "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ANNOUNCES 2023-24 NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE". ucfknights.com. September 25, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.

[5] "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL UNVEILS 2023-24 BIG 12 SCHEDULE". ucfknights.com. September 27, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.

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v t e UCF Knights women's basketball
Venues	Education Gymnasium (1977–1991) UCF Arena (1991–2007) Addition Financial Arena (2007–present)
Rivalries	South Florida
Culture & lore	History Knightro Marching Knights
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24

2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team

Previous season[edit]

Offseason[edit]

Departures[edit]

Incoming transfers[edit]

Recruiting[edit]

Roster[edit]

Schedule[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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