The Rundown
- The Knights finish out their non-conference slate as they host High Point Tuesday, December 17 for their annual Teddy Bear Toss game at 7 p.m.
- The Knights boast a 1-0 record against High Point and this will be the first matchup since 1998 between the Black and Gold and Panthers.
- High Point averages 25.3 three-point attempts per game, ranked 42nd in the NCAA.
- The Knights are second in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds per game with 15.0 per game.
Scouting High Point
- High Point enters the matchup with a 4-7 overall record.
- Head coach Chelsea Banbury is in her sixth season and holds a 96-68 record with the Panthers.
- Aaliyah Collins leads the team in scoring with 125 points, averaging 11.4 points per game.
- Jaleesa Lawrence is first on the team with 58 rebounds and averages 5.3 rebounds per game.
A Win Would…
- Improve the Knights to 8-2 on the season
- Give the Knights their fourth straight season with at least eight non-conference wins
- Give the Knights a 6-0 record at home
- Improve the overall series between High Point to 2-0
- Be better than a loss
Big 12 Weekly Awards Sweep
- For the first time in UCF women’s basketball history, the Knights swept the Big 12 conference awards with Kaitlin Peterson earning Player of the Week and Emely Rodriguez tabbed Freshman of the Week (11/25).
- Peterson tallied 79 points over three games with an average of 26.3 points per game.
- In Friday’s matchup against SIUE, Peterson tied her career high by recording 35 points, going 3-5 from beyond the arc and 11-17 from the field.
- The Eufaula, Alabama, native tallied her 30th double-digit game at UCF on Sunday when she scored 21 points.
- Rodriguez recorded another strong week in her rookie season with 35 points over three games.
- The La Romana, Dominican Republic, native tied her career high with 18 points in the Knights' 80-55 win against Florida A&M on Sunday.
- The freshman currently averages 13.5 points per game and is ranked first among freshmen in the Big 12 in scoring.
Strong Start
- The Knights 76-44 victory over Iona on Nov. 5 marked the seventh consecutive season opener victory for the Black and Gold.
- Since Coach Messer took over the program in 2022, the Knights have started out the season at home and are 3-0 in home openers in the Messer era.
- In Messer’s first year at the helm for UCF, she led her team to a 6-0 start which then marked the best start since the 7-0 start during the 1984-85 season.
- In just her second season, she broke the record with an 8-0 start to etch history into the record books with the best start in program history.
Rising to the Top
- Kaitlin Peterson once again leads the Knights in scoring with 22.4 points per game and is ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 and eighth in the NCAA.
- Peterson recorded a career-high 39 points at Texas Southern (12/7), which puts her at fourth in the NCAA.
- The senior had a stellar debut season (23-24) for the Knights, as she led the Big 12 with 20.7 points per game.
- The senior was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, marking the first Knight to earn a Big 12 award in their inaugural season in the Big 12.
- Peterson surpassed 500 points at Oklahoma State (Feb. 21), as she recorded 599 points last season and ranked 19th in the NCAA for points per game.
- She scored double digits in 27 of UCF’s 28 games last season and reached 20 points on 15 occasions.
Crashing the Boards
- Hannah Gusters leads the team with 8.9 rebounds per game, which ranks her fourth in the conference.
- Gusters recorded three straight games with a double-double in just the third week of games.
- Achol Akot is second on the team with 7.9 rebounds, she recorded a double-double against Stetson (11/16) with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
- Gusters has tallied double digits in rebounds in five games this season.
- The Dallas, Texas, native earned her first start with the Knights on Nov. 5 against Iona.
- She earned her first double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Black and Gold’s first game of the 24-25 season against Iona (Nov. 5).
- Gusters has known Coach Messer since the eighth grade and has followed her to three universities (Baylor, LSU and UCF).
Knights in the Rankings
- As a team, UCF is ranked in the top 40 of the NCAA rankings in five categories.
- 11th: Free-throw attempts per game (23.22)
- 22nd: Rebound margin (10.4)
- 25th: Free throws made per game (15.56)
- 32nd: Rebounds per game (43.0)
- 38th: Rebounds (offensive) per game (15.0)
Double Trouble
- Hannah Gusters has had a hot start to the season as she has recorded five double doubles in just eight games this season.
- The Senior earned three straight double-doubles in just the third week of games.
- With five double-doubles, she is ranked second in the conference in double-doubles and 13th in the NCAA.
- The Dallas, Texas, native tallied a career-high 12 rebounds against Marquette (11/7).
Fresh Start
- Freshman, Emely Rodriguez started her collegiate career with 13 points against Iona in the Knights season opener Nov. 5.
- The Dominican Republic native tallied 18 points against Marquette (Nov. 7) which marked just her second game donning the Black and Gold.
- Rodriguez recorded three straight games with double-digit scoring and earned her first start against Stetson (11/16).
Welcome to Orlando
- The Knights bring nine newcomers to the 2024-25 squad, four of which are transfers.
- Freshman Mahogany Chandler-Roberts represents one of three players from the state of Oregon who earned a McDonald’s All-American nomination, in addition to her selection as the reigning Portland Interscholastic League’s Player of the Year after averaging 16.7 points and 8.7 rebounds for Benson Tech.
- Graduate student Hannah Gusters joins the Knights after spending the 2023-24 season with Oklahoma State. The former Cowgirl averaged 14.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21 games last season.
- Fellow graduate student Nevaeh Brown (ETSU) brings the second-most average points in UCF’s transfer class, having produced an average 13.6 points with 3.6 rebounds in a season-high 30 starts. Lucie Castagne from Bryant (2.28 PPG, 2 RPG) and Ally Stedman from Miami (2.23 PPG, 0.65 RPG) round out the 2024-25 transfer class.
- Emely Rodriguez, Summer Yancy, Adeang Ring and Arek Angui represent the final four incoming freshman, joining Chandler-Roberts. Rodriguez, the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Girl’s Basketball Player of the Year last season, averaged 26.5 points, 15.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game; Yancy, the fourth-ranked high school player out of Missouri, made the Class 6 All-State team three times; Ring comes to Orlando as the second-ranked high school player out of Arizona; Angui averaged 14.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game in her final high school season, per MaxPreps.
Home Sweet Home
- The Knights opened the season with six home games which marked the most since the 1999-2000 season when UCF started its slate with nine straight home games.
- UCF has opened the season at home for the past five seasons, earning a win in all five of those matchups.
- Last season, the Black and Gold showcased an 8-8 record at home in their inaugural season in the Big 12.