Tahnee Balerio was hired as an assistant coach in April 2016 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2019. Her primary responsibilities include the development of guards, opponent scouting reports and recruiting.
A historic 2021-22 campaign saw the Knights win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history as the highest seed by a UCF squad. The Black and Gold were the No. 7 seed in the Bridgeport Region
The Knights finished with a 26-4 record, winning the American Athletic Conference regular season with a 14-1 mark and captured The American Championship trophy for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UCF defeated Florida, 69-52, in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, marking the first NCAA Tournament win by a Knights squad in program history.
The accolades were plentiful throughout the season, and UCF made its debut in the national polls for the first time in program history, climbing to No. 23 in the USA Today/WBCA Top 25 and No. 24 in the Associated Press poll.
In her first four seasons at UCF, she helped guide the Knights to the program’s first four-consecutive 20-win seasons in the Division I era, and only missed a fifth-straight after the COVID-19 pandemic led to fewer contests in the 2020-21 campaign. She helped the Knights to their best finish in the American Athletic Conference in all six seasons, including their first-ever appearance in The American Championship title game in 2018-19, a return to the title game in 2020-21 and the tournament title in 2021-22.
UCF also made five postseason appearances - one in each season in which a postseason tournament was held - during Balerio's tenure with the Black and Gold. In 2018-19, UCF earned the program’s first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 and, after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of all 2020 spring championships, rebounded with a second-straight NCAA bid and the highest seed in program history.
Diamond Battles had a breakout season under Balerio's guidance and hauled in her share of accolades. She was named The American Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Outstanding Player at The American Championship and was a unanimous First Team All-Conference selection.
The 2020-21 season saw the emergence of the solid point guard combo Diamond Battles and Alisha Lewis under Balerio’s coaching. In the win over Cincinnati on Jan. 17, the duo combined for 10 assists and just one turnover. Adding in the win at ECU, Battles and Lewis combined for 19 assists on the week. The pair finished the season with just two games in which both did not register at least one assist (at Tulsa, vs. Northwestern). Battles dished out three or more dimes in 15 of UCF’s 21 games and Lewis had 12 such games. In 10 of the last 15 games of the season, both Battles and Lewis had at least 2 assists, with five games where both had four or more.
Lewis became the second Knight to earn a major award in The American as she was named Newcomer of the Year and Co-Sixth Player of the Year. Battles was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Tournament Team after averaging 15.0 points per game on 50 percent shooting while leading UCF to The American championship game.
Under Balerio’s guidance, Kay Kay Wright developed into one of the top guards in the American Athletic Conference. The Orlando native became UCF’s first Preseason Player of the Year in The American in 2019-20. A two-time first team all-conference selection, Wright finished her career ranked second all-time in assists (494), third in points (1,614) and steals (386), and fourth in field goals made (625) and free throw percentage (78.7). She is also the only Knight to tally 1,600 points, 400 assists and 250 steals during their tenure with the Black and Gold.
A five-time American Athletic Conference Player of the Week, she was the first Knight to earn multiple weekly league honors in multiple seasons. She was the first Knight to earn the USBWA National Player of the Week honors.
In her rookie campaign, Wright nearly joined the single season top 10 in assists, dishing out 129. As a sophomore, Wright landed at No. 7 with 139 assists, and moved into the career top 10 in the category with 268. In 2018-19, she ranked second in a single season with 595 points, third in field goals made with 230 and fourth with an 82.2 free throw percentage.
In 2017-18, Balerio worked with Zakiya Saunders, who transferred from UAlbany after starting her career under Coach Abrahamson-Henderson and Balerio. Saunders led the Knights in scoring and steals per game in her lone campaign with the Black and Gold, earning second team all-conference accolades.
Balerio spent a total of six seasons at Albany – logging four years as an assistant coach after her two years as director of basketball operations. She was responsible for the development of guards, the day-to-day practice schedule and ordering/distribution of equipment. She also made opponent scouting reports and assisted with game preparation and recruiting.
She comes to UCF after helping the Great Danes capture four America East regular season titles and five conference tournament championships along with five-straight NCAA Tournament berths, which included Albany’s first NCAA Tournament win in 2016 against 5-seed Florida.
Balerio worked directly with a number of talented guards at Albany from 2010-16, including Sarah Royals, who became the all-time leader in assists in program history, and Lindsay Lowrie, who finished her career with the second-highest three-point percentage in UAlbany history. Lowrie earned Third Team All-America East as a senior and finished 13th in all of Division I in three-point shooting percentage at 41.3 percent.
In her last season with Albany in 2015-16, Balerio witnessed Imani Tate post the fourth-highest scoring season (604 points) in program history on the way to All-America East First Team and All-Defensive Team honors. She ranked eighth in all of Division I with 3.12 steals per game. Zakiya Saunders, another all-conference selection, broke the school record for assists (227) and ranked sixth in Division I with her 6.9 assist per game average.
A graduate of Missouri State in 2008, Balerio was a team captain and a two-time MVP for the Bears. In addition to earning Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honors, Balerio was a two-time all-conference honoree and led the MVC in scoring during the 2006-07 season under Abrahamson-Henderson, averaging 18.7 points per game. She helped lead the Bears to the MVC and WNIT Championships in 2005 and was invited to participate at the WNBA free agent draft camp in 2010.
After graduating from Missouri State, Balerio was the head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Mo. She was in charge of coordinating the defense for the varsity program, as well as analyzing film, scouting and managing the statistics database. Balerio also worked specifically with the guards on position workouts, and ran all aspects of the junior varsity program.
*Updated March 2022
