Women's Basketball Tops Marquette, 57-50Women's Basketball Tops Marquette, 57-50

Women's Basketball Tops Marquette, 57-50

by Ryan Ladika
Box Score

ORLANDO – “I tell her that she has ice in her veins.”

As expressed in head coach Sytia Messer’s postgame affirmation, freshman Emely Rodriguez has looked every bit the part of a major contributor for her team just two games into its new season.

Rodriguez, seeing just over 20 minutes of action off the bench, paced the Knights on the scoresheet with a game-high 18 points to lead the UCF women’s basketball team to a 57-50 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles at Addition Financial Arena Thursday evening.

In besting the Golden Eagles, the Knights toppled a squad that has earned selections to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons, producing an aggregate 86-38 record in that span.

UCF also remained unbeaten in two all-time matchups between the two programs and jumped out to a 2-0 start for the third time in as many seasons under Messer as well.

“We came out of the gate well. As the game went on our lack of chemistry on the offensive end showed, but we’re going to get better with that. It comes from having so many weapons on the offensive end. We’ll get there, but overall, we did well.”

Sytia MesserHead coach

Though Rodriguez represented the contest’s leading scorer at the final buzzer, returning sophomore Achol Akot kickstarted the Knights’ offensive momentum, scoring eight of her team’s 18 first-quarter points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field.

The Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, native produced the game’s first two points on a driving layup 13 seconds in, and later scored four of 10 unanswered points that helped push the home five out to a 12-5 advantage.

Akot, graduate student transfer Nevaeh Brown and senior transfer Hannah Gusters accounted for the final six points of the frame as UCF brought an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.

“Achol this summer, she worked with the guards. She’s always been solid for us, but her confidence with the ball-handling skills have increased so much. As a coach, you want your players to be happy and see their skills increase and see that they trust what you’re telling them. She showed that tonight.”

Sytia Messeron Achol Akot

The Knights battled through a defensive second frame that saw Marquette edge UCF 10 points to nine, highlighted by 2023-24 Big 12 leading scorer Kaitlin Peterson’s first triple of the contest, as well as the first three points of the night by Rodriguez.

After UCF brought a 27-22 lead into the halftime break, the shots from beyond the arc began to fall the Knights’ way in the third quarter. Gusters and Akot both began the frame with two points before Peterson knocked down her second 3-point shot, followed immediately by senior transfer Ally Stedman’s first converted try from deep.

Rodriguez found herself at the center of the Knights’ offense the rest of the way, notching five of UCF’s final seven points of the frame, including her first 3-pointer, to push UCF’s lead to 44-32 entering the final stanza, and she scored nine of the Knights’ 13 fourth-quarter points as well.

The La Romana, Dominican Republic, native notched her second straight game in double figures after she scored 12 in UCF’s 76-44 season-opening rout of Iona Tuesday evening, and finished just three rebounds shy of her first collegiate double-double with seven.

A testament to the depth on Messer’s 2024-25 squad, Akot registered her sixth career game in double figures with 10 points, her first such contest since scoring 13 at Cincinnati Jan. 10, 2024, and Peterson added nine more on the strength of her two triples.

“We’re going to continue to develop all of them,” Messer said of her team. “This is a game that we’re excited about because we just beat a very good Marquette team. Kaitlin is learning that it’s okay to have other people contribute, because we all know what she can do as the Big 12’s leading scorer from last year. We’re excited about that, and we want to keep them working.”

UP NEXT

After playing two games in a three-day span to open their winter campaign, the Knights now have over a week to prepare for the Stetson Hatters Saturday, Nov. 16. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. from Addition Financial Arena and will be streamed on ESPN+.

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