ORLANDO - The UCF women's basketball team begins the 2023-24 campaign on Monday against Bethune-Cookman at 6 p.m. in Addition Financial Arena.
The Rundown
- This will be the fifth consecutive year that UCF women’s basketball has opened the season at home.
- The Knights will match up against Bethune-Cookman for the 19th time in program history, as the Black and Gold hold a 14-4 advantage over the Wildcats.
- The last matchup was on Dec. 4, 2016, in Addition Financial Arena when UCF came away with a 70-43 win.
Welcome Back
- UCF returns seven players from last year’s roster.
- Taylor Gibson, Mya Burns, Sierra Godbolt, Laila Jewett and Anzhané Hutton all saw court time last season.
- Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu and Asia Todd both missed the entire 2022-23 season due to injury.
Duo of Mid-Year Transfers
- Kaitlin Peterson (Indiana) and Timia Ware (LSU) transferred mid-year from their respective schools but were only able to practice with UCF due to playing games during the fall semester.
- Peterson played in six games during the fall where she recorded 24 points and five rebounds.
- Ware appeared in one game at LSU before transferring to UCF in December.
Welcome to Orlando
- Four new faces joined the UCF program in the offseason.
- Achol Akot and Kyhala Ngodu make up the freshman class.
- The transfer class includes Jayla Kelly (Missouri) and Mary McMillan (UNC-Wilmington).
- Kelly appeared in 26 games last season averaging 3.2 points and 2.7 rebounds.
- McMillan played in five games before suffering a season-ending injury.
Going International
- Freshman Achol Akot spent her summer playing with U19 Team Canada.
- Team Canada went on to earn bronze in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain with a win over France.
- Akot averaged 14.8 minutes in seven games along with 5.9 rebounds.
New Staff, New Era
- The Knights brought in five new faces on the coaching staff to join the women’s basketball program.
- Chandler McCabe joined the staff as assistant coach in May, along with Erin Horne as director of operations.
- Tasha Taylor was added to the UCF women’s basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach in July 2023.
- Mike Carey, a 34-year collegiate coaching veteran with Big 12 Conference experience, enters his first season with the Knights in 2023-24.
- Walter Pitts rounds out the staff as assistant coach and director of player development.
Reppin’ the Swoosh
- UCF Athletics has renewed its contract with Nike.
- A new five-year deal keeps Nike as the official apparel and footwear provider of the Knights through the 2028-29 academic year.
- UCF will continue to work directly with Nike as the official supplier of uniforms, equipment and apparel for UCF Athletics.
- “As a Nike school since 2010, UCF has experienced tremendous growth with this partnership, and we will continue to elevate in the Big 12 Conference,” says UCF vice president and director of athletics Terry Mohajir.
- “Nike has allowed us to innovate and enhance our brand among some of the best in the country. We look forward to our direct collaboration with our partners at Nike and their renewed commitment and belief in UCF Athletics.”
New Kids On The Block
- UCF officially joined the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023.
- The Knights enter the Power 5 as the youngest school, having been founded in 1963 to supply NASA with engineers.
- UCF joined the conference with Cincinnati, Houston and BYU to push the conference to 14 women’s basketball programs.
We>Me
- Coach Messer and her team came up with a motto for this year ‘We are greater than me’.
- We are greater than me means that we are greater than ourselves and it's important for us to work together as a team rather than as a single individual.