The Rundown
- The Knights begin their second season in the Big 12 conference as they welcome #12/13 TCU to Addition Financial Arena Saturday, December 21 at 2 p.m.
- The Horned Frogs lead the series 4-0 with the first matchup dating back to 1987.
- TCU averages 29.8 defensive rebounds per game while the Knights pull down 14.5 offensive rebounds per game, ranked third and second in the league, respectively.
- Hannah Gusters and TCU’s Sedona Prince are third in the Big 12 with five double-doubles a piece.
Scouting TCU
- TCU enters the matchup with a 11-1 overall record.
- Head coach Mark Campbell is in his fourth season overall and second with the Horned Frogs.
- Hailey Van Lith leads the team in scoring with 234 points, averaging 19.5 points per game.
- Sedona Prince is first on the team with 106 rebounds and averages 9.64 rebounds per game.
A Win Would…
- Improve the Knights to 8-3 on the season
- Give the Knights their first Big 12 conference win of the season
- Be the Knights first win in a Big 12 opener
- Give the Black and Gold their first win against the Horned Frogs
- 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
- Achol Akot leads the team with 8.6 rebounds per game, which ranks her fourth in the conference.
- Akot recorded a double-double against Stetson (11/16) with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
- Hannah Gusters is second on the team with 8.5 rebounds on the heels of Akot as she ranks fifth in the Big 12.
- Gusters recorded three straight games with a double-double in just the third week of games.
- Gusters has tallied double digits in rebounds in six 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 four categories.
- 18th: Rebound margin (11.0)
- 21st: Free-throw attempts per game (23.22)
- 35th: Free throws made per game (14.5)
- 33rd: Rebounds per game (42.6)
Double Trouble
- Hannah Gusters has had a hot start to the season as she has recorded five double doubles in just 10 games this season.
- The Senior earned three straight double-doubles in just the third week of games.
- With five double-doubles, she is ranked third in the conference in double-doubles and 19th in the NCAA.
- The Dallas, Texas, native tallied a career-high 12 rebounds against Marquette (11/7).
- Achol Akot, Emely Rodriguez and Khyala Ngodu have all recorded at least one double-double this year.
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).
- She recorded her first double-double against Montana State (11/29) with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
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.