2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team

The 2023–24 UCF Knights women's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Knights, were led by second-year head coach Sytia Messer and played 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	12–17 (3–15 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. 21 Oklahoma	15	–	3		.833			23	–	10		.697
No. 7 Texas †	14	–	4		.778			33	–	5		.868
No. 19 Kansas State	13	–	5		.722			26	–	8		.765
No. 25 Iowa State	12	–	6		.667			21	–	12		.636
No. 13 Baylor	12	–	6		.667			26	–	8		.765
No. 24 West Virginia	12	–	6		.667			25	–	8		.758
Kansas	11	–	7		.611			20	–	13		.606
Oklahoma State	7	–	11		.389			14	–	16		.467
TCU	6	–	12		.333			21	–	12		.636
BYU	6	–	12		.333			16	–	17		.485
Cincinnati	5	–	13		.278			14	–	18		.438
Texas Tech	5	–	13		.278			17	–	16		.515
Houston	5	–	13		.278			14	–	16		.467
UCF	3	–	15		.167			12	–	17		.414
† 2024 Big 12 tournament winner 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	L 58–59	8–1	Addition Financial Arena (797) Orlando, FL
December 19, 2023* 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Morgan State	W 67–41	9–1	Addition Financial Arena (787) Orlando, FL
Big 12 Conference regular season
December 30, 2023 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma	L 52–69	9–2 (0–1)	Lloyd Noble Center (3,835) Norman, OK
January 3, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Oklahoma State	L 61–68	9–3 (0–2)	Addition Financial Arena (1,230) Orlando, FL
January 6, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 11 Kansas State	L 56–72	9–4 (0–3)	Addition Financial Arena (1,154) Orlando, FL
January 10, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Cincinnati	L 63–64	9–5 (0–4)	Fifth Third Arena (587) Cincinnati, OH
January 13, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 24 West Virginia	L 59–76	9–6 (0–5)	Addition Financial Arena (1,374) Orlando, FL
January 20, 2024 3:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 12 Baylor	L 74–77	9–7 (0–6)	Foster Pavilion (5,089) Waco, TX
January 23, 2024 7:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at TCU	L 60–66	9–8 (0–7)	Schollmaier Arena (2,249) Fort Worth, TX
January 27, 2024 2:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Houston	W 92–87 OT	10–8 (1–7)	Addition Financial Arena (1,092) Orlando, FL
January 30, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 23 West Virginia	L 43–84	10–9 (1–8)	WVU Coliseum (1,608) Morgantown, WV
February 3, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Iowa State	W 71–66	11–9 (2–8)	Addition Financial Arena (1,088) Orlando, FL
February 7, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Cincinnati	L 61–67	11–10 (2–9)	Addition Financial Arena (1,108) Orlando, FL
February 10, 2024 8:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Texas Tech	W 69–64	12–10 (3–9)	United Supermarkets Arena (4,511) Lubbock, TX
February 13, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		BYU	L 60–64	12–11 (3–10)	Addition Financial Arena (849) Orlando, FL
February 17, 2024 5:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at No. 7 Kansas State	L 58–60	12–12 (3–11)	Bramlage Coliseum (6,316) Manhattan, KS
February 21, 2024 6:30 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Oklahoma State	L 54–67	12–13 (3–12)	Gallagher-Iba Arena (1,819) Stillwater, OK
February 24, 2024 12:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		No. 5 Texas	L 56–87	12–14 (3–13)	Addition Financial Arena (1,621) Orlando, FL
February 28, 2024 6:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		Kansas	L 53–65	12–15 (3–14)	Addition Financial Arena (1,071) Orlando, FL
March 2, 2024 7:00 p.m., BIG12/ESPN+		at Houston	L 67–68	12–16 (3–15)	Fertitta Center (1,141) Houston, TX
Big 12 Conference Tournament
March 7, 2024 9:00 p.m., ESPN+	(14)	vs. (11) Cincinnati First Round	L 62–67	12–17	T-Mobile Center (2,824) 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.