2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team

The 2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team represents the University of Central Florida during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Knights, are led by second-year head coach Sytia Messer and play their home games at the Addition Financial Arena as members of the Big 12 Conference.^[1][2]

2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	8–0 (0–0 Big 12)
Head coach	Sytia Messer (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Mike Carey Chandler McCabe Tasha Taylor
Home arena	Addition Financial Arena
Seasons ← 2022–23 2024–25 →

2023–24 Big 12 Conference women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Texas	0	–	0		–			11	–	0		1.000
Texas Tech	0	–	0		–			11	–	0		1.000
TCU	0	–	0		–			10	–	0		1.000
West Virginia	0	–	0		–			9	–	0		1.000
No. 10 Baylor	0	–	0		–			8	–	0		1.000
UCF	0	–	0		–			8	–	0		1.000
No. 12т Kansas State	0	–	0		–			9	–	1		.900
Houston	0	–	0		–			8	–	1		.889
BYU	0	–	0		–			8	–	2		.800
Cincinnati	0	–	0		–			6	–	3		.667
Oklahoma	0	–	0		–			6	–	3		.667
Oklahoma State	0	–	0		–			5	–	3		.625
Iowa State	0	–	0		–			5	–	4		.556
Kansas	0	–	0		–			5	–	4		.556
† 2024 Big 12 tournament winner As of December 15, 2023 Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Knights finished the 2022–23 season 14–15, 4–11 in AAC play to finish in tenth place. As a 10th seed in the AAC Women's tournament they defeated Cincinnati in the first round before losing to Memphis in the quarterfinals.

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Kiera Brown	4	G	5'9"	Sophomore	Riviera Beach, FL
Tiani Abrams	5	G	6'1"	Freshman	Vista, CA	Transferred to Northern Colorado
Becca Ripley	11	G	6'0"	Senior	Stratham, NH	Graduated
Rachel Ranke	12	G	6'1"	GS Senior	Burnsville, MN	Graduated
Bryana Hardy	20	F	6'2"	Freshman	Lovejoy, GA
Ashley Foster	24	G	5'8"	Senior	McDonough, GA	Graduated
Destiny Thomas	33	F	6'2"	Senior	Atlanta, GA	Graduated
Ashton Verhulst	42	F	6'2"	Junior	De Soto, KS	Walk-on; left the team

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Kaitlin Peterson	3	G	5'9"	Junior	Eufaula, AL	Indiana
Jayla Kelly	24	C	6'3"	Senior	Chesterfield, MO	Missouri
Mary McMillan	42	G	5'6"	Senior	Apopka, FL	UNC Wilmington

Recruiting

There were no recruiting classing class of 2023.

Roster

2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Laila Jewett 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Jr Bishop Ireton Woodbridge, VA G 3 Kaitlin Peterson 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Jr Eufaula Indiana Eufaula, AL G 10 Mya Burns 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) GS North Augusta Georgia Southern North Augusta, SC F 11 Achol Akot 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr Capital Courts Academy Ottawa, ON G 14 Asia Todd 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) GS Clayton Liberty Clayton, NC F 15 Taylor Gibson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Jr Bishop McNamara Michigan Upper Marlboro, MD G 21 Timia Ware 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Jr Whitney Young Magnet LSU Chicago, IL G 22 Sierra Godbolt 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) So Lake Highland Prep Orlando, FL F 23 Anzhané Hutton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Cedar Hill Howard Dallas, TX C 24 Jayla Kelly 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Parkway Central Missouri Chesterfield, MO G 30 Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) GS Norcross Gulf Coast State College Norcross, GA C 35 Khyala Ngodu 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Fr Dillard Fort Lauderdale, FL G 42 Mary McMillan 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Sr Apopka UNC Wilmington Apopka, FL	Head coach Sytia Messer (Arkansas) Assistant coach(es) Tennille Adams (Arkansas) Greg Brown (Lipscomb) Michelle Edwards (Iowa) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

^[3]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 6, 2023* 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Bethune–Cookman	W 101–63	1–0	Addition Financial Arena (3,225) Orlando, FL
November 13, 2023* 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Anderson	W 96–73	2–0	Addition Financial Arena (740) Orlando, FL
November 20, 2023* 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Auburn	W 60–53	3–0	Addition Financial Arena (1,180) Orlando, FL
November 23, 2023* 3:00 p.m., FloSports		vs. Jackson State Discover Puerto Rico Classic	W 63–54	4–0	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (250) San Juan, PR
November 24, 2023* 3:00 p.m., FloSports		vs. St. John's Discover Puerto Rico Classic	W 61–48	5–0	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (250) San Juan, PR
November 25, 2023* 5:30 p.m., FloSports		vs. Sacred Heart Discover Puerto Rico Classic	W 69–58	6–0	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (250) San Juan, PR
December 3, 2023* 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Campbell	W 42–41	7–0	Addition Financial Arena (1,072) Orlando, FL
December 11, 2023* 11:00 a.m., BIG12/ESPN+		New Orleans	W 72–45	8–0	Addition Financial Arena (1,238) Orlando, FL
December 18, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Florida Atlantic			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
December 19, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Morgan State			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
Big 12 Conference regular season
December 30, 2023 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma			Lloyd Noble Center  Norman, OK
January 3, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Oklahoma State			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
January 6, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Kansas State			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
January 10, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Cincinnati			Fifth Third Arena  Cincinnati, OH
January 13, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		West Virginia			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
January 20, 2024 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Baylor			Foster Pavilion  Waco, TX
January 23, 2024 7:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at TCU			Schollmaier Arena  Fort Worth, TX
January 27, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Houston			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
January 30, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at West Virginia			WVU Coliseum  Morgantown, WV
February 3, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Iowa State			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
February 7, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Cincinnati			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
February 10, 2024 8:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Texas Tech			United Supermarkets Arena  Lubbock, TX
February 13, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		BYU			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
February 17, 2024 5:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Kansas State			Bramlage Coliseum  Manhattan, KS
February 21, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma State			Gallagher-Iba Arena  Stillwater, OK
February 24, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Texas			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
February 28, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Kansas			Addition Financial Arena  Orlando, FL
March 2, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Houston			Fertitta Center  Houston, TX
Big 12 Conference Tournament
March 7–12, 2024		vs. TBD			T-Mobile Center  Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ^[4]^[5]

See also

• 2023–24 UCF Knights men's basketball team

References

1. Stein, Danielle (October 12, 2023). "UCF's basketball teams enter inaugural Big 12 season as underdogs". Spectrum News 13. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
2. Murschel, Matt (October 11, 2023). "UCF basketball prepares for challenges in inaugural Big 12 season". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
3. "2023–24 (W) Basketball Schedule". UCF Athletics. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
4. "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ANNOUNCES 2023-24 NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE". ucfknights.com. September 25, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
5. "WOMEN'S BASKETBALL UNVEILS 2023-24 BIG 12 SCHEDULE". ucfknights.com. September 27, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.