2025–26 UCF Knights women's basketball team

2025–26 UCF Knights women's basketball
2025–26 UCF Knights women's basketball
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	8–4 (0–1 Big 12)
Head coach	Sytia Messer (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Walter Pitts; Steven Key; AnnMarie Gilbert;
Home arena	Addition Financial Arena

2025–26 Big 12 Conference women's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Arizona State	1	–	0	1.000	14	–	0	1.000
No. 21 Texas Tech	1	–	0	1.000	14	–	0	1.000
No. 10 Iowa State	1	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
No. 8т TCU	1	–	0	1.000	13	–	0	1.000
BYU	1	–	0	1.000	12	–	1	.923
Oklahoma State	1	–	0	1.000	12	–	2	.857
West Virginia	1	–	0	1.000	11	–	2	.846
Utah	1	–	0	1.000	10	–	3	.769
No. 22 Baylor	0	–	1	.000	11	–	3	.786
Kansas	0	–	1	.000	10	–	3	.769
Arizona	0	–	1	.000	9	–	3	.750
Colorado	0	–	1	.000	9	–	4	.692
UCF	0	–	1	.000	8	–	4	.667
Kansas State	0	–	1	.000	7	–	7	.500
Houston	0	–	1	.000	6	–	6	.500
Cincinnati	0	–	1	.000	5	–	8	.385

† 2026 Big 12 tournament winner As of December 22, 2025 Rankings from AP poll

The 2025–26 UCF Knights women's basketball team represents the University of Central Florida during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Knights are led by fourth-year head coach Sytia Messer and play their home games at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida as members of the Big 12 Conference.

Previous season

The Knights finished the 2024–25 season 12–18, 4–14 in Big 12 play to finish in a three-way tie for twelfth place. As No. 13 seed in the Big 12 tournament they defeated BYU in the first round before losing in the second round to Kansas State.

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Kaitlin Peterson	3	G	5'9"	Senior	Eufaula, AL	Transferred to Ole Miss
Lucie Castagne	4	G	5'6"	Graduate Student	Paris, France	Graduated
Nevaeh Brown	8	G	5'9"	Senior	Charlotte, NC	Transferred to Hofstra
Achol Akot	11	F	6'1"	Sophomore	Ottawa, ON	Transferred to Oklahoma State
Emely Rodriguez	12	G/F	6'0"	Freshman	La Romana, DR	Transferred to Iowa
Taylor Gibson	15	F	6'2"	Senior	Upper Marlboro, MD	Transferred to Hampton
Hannah Gusters	21	C	6'6'	Graduate Student	Dallas, TX	Graduated
Adeang Ring	22	F	6'5"	Freshman	Sydney, Australia	Transferred to Virginia
Arek Angui	23	C	6'8"	Freshman	Juba, South Sudan	Transferred to Auburn
Ally Stedman	24	G	5'9"	Senior	Phoenix, AZ	Transferred

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Kristol Ayson	2	G	5'8"	Graduate Student	Tacoma, WA	Tulsa
Jaccoriah Bracey	3	G	5'9"	Graduate Student	Drew, MS	Southern Miss
Logan Reed	5	G/F	6'0"	Freshman	Godley, TX	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi
Kayanna Cox	12	G	5'10"	Sophomore	Tenaha, TX	SMU^[1]
Audreonia Benson	14	G	5'6"	Junior	Trussville, AL	Pensacola State College
Jasmynne Gibson	24	F	6'1"	Sophomore	Apopka, FL	North Florida
Savannah Scott	30	C	6'4"	Sophomore	Conway, AR	Auburn
Leah Harmon	42	G	5'6"	Sophomore	Paterson, NJ	Miami (FL)^[2]

Recruiting

There was no recruiting class of 2025.

Roster

2025–26 UCF Knights women's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	1	Samari Bankhead	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	Fr	Windward	Los Angeles, CA
G	2	Kristol Ayson	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	GS	Lincoln Tulsa	Tacoma, WA
G	3	Jaccoriah Bracey	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	GS	Thomas Edwards Southern Miss	Drew, MS
G/F	5	Logan Reed	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	RS Fr	Godley Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	Godley, TX
G	7	Felicia Schölander	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	Fr		Stockholm, Sweden
F	9	Meja Hänsel	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	Fr	Luleå High School	Stockholm, Sweden
G	12	Kayanna Cox	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	So	Tenaha SMU	Tenaha, TX
G/F	13	Summer Yancy	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	So	Lee's Summit North	Kansas City, MO
G	14	Audreonia Benson	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	Jr	Hewitt-Trussville Pensacola State College	Trussville, AL
F	24	Jasmynne Gibson	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	So	Colonial North Florida	Apopka, FL
C	30	Savannah Scott	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	RS So	Conway Auburn	Conway, AR
F	33	Mahogany Chandler-Robnets	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	So	Benson Tech	Portland, OR
C	35	Khyala Ngodu	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	Jr	Dillard	Fort Lauderdale, FL
G	42	Leah Harmon	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)	So	IMG Academy Miami (FL)	Paterson, NJ

Head coach

Sytia Messer (Arkansas)

Assistant coach(es)

Walter Pitts (Alabama)
Steven Key (Boston University)
AnnMarie Gilbert (Oberlin)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
October 28, 2025* 7:00 p.m.	Edward Waters	W 66–55		13 – Tied	9 – Ngodu	4 – Harmon	Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
Non-conference regular season
November 3, 2025* 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	Bethune–Cookman	W 75–36	1–0	14 – Harmon	7 – Bracey	4 – Tied	Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
November 9, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Charlotte	L 64–66	1–1	17 – Harmon	7 – Ngodu	5 – Harmon	Addition Financial Arena (973) Orlando, FL
November 18, 2025* 11:00 a.m., ESPN+	FIU	W 79–61	2–1	17 – Bracey	9 – Chandler-Roberts	5 – Harmon	Addition Financial Arena (1,357) Orlando, FL
November 21, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Charlotte	W 76-59	3-1	15 – Harmon	8 – Gibson	3 – Harmon, Ayson	Addition Financial Arena (1,074) Orlando, FL
November 24, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	South Carolina State	W 94-49	4-1	17 – Harmon	7 – Tied	3 – Yancy	Addition Financial Arena (1,119) Orlando, FL
November 26, 2025* 11:00 a.m., FloCollege	vs. East Carolina Puerto Rico Shootout	W 75-61	5-1	20 – Ngodu	10 – Scott	6 – Harmon	Coliseo Guillermo Angulo (250) San Juan, PR
November 27, 2025* 12:30 p.m., FloCollege	vs. Wake Forest Puerto Rico Shootout	L 80-85 ^OT	5-2	21 – Ngodu	13 – Ngodu	5 – Harmon	Coliseo Guillermo Angulo San Juan, PR
November 28, 2025* 3:00 p.m., FloCollege	vs. Rice Puerto Rico Shootout						Coliseo Guillermo Angulo San Juan, PR
December 3, 2025* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Stetson						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
December 7, 2025* 1:00 p.m., ESPN+	Delaware State						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
December 14, 2025* 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Morgan State						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
Big 12 regular season
December 20, 2025 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	BYU						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
December 31, 2025 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Texas Tech						United Supermarkets Arena Lubbock, TX
January 4, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Kansas						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
January 7, 2026 8:30 p.m., ESPN+	at Arizona State						Desert Financial Arena Tempe, AZ
January 10, 2026 4:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Arizona						McKale Center Tucson, AZ
January 14, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Cincinnati						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
January 18, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Colorado						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
January 21, 2026 8:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Baylor						Foster Pavilion Waco, TX
January 24, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	TCU						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
January 31, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Iowa State						Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA
February 4, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Utah						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
February 7, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Oklahoma State						Gallagher-Iba Arena Stillwater, OK
February 11, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	at West Virginia						Hope Coliseum Morgantown, WV
February 15, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	Baylor						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
February 18, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	Kansas State						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
February 21, 2026 2:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Cincinnati						Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati, OH
February 25, 2026 7:00 p.m., ESPN+	West Virginia						Addition Financial Arena Orlando, FL
March 1, 2026 3:00 p.m., ESPN+	at Houston						Fertitta Center Houston, TX
Big 12 Conference tournament
March 4–8, 2026 TBA	vs.						T-Mobile Center Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Source:^[3]

References

^ Blouin, Drew (July 16, 2025). "Ranking All 16 Women's Big 12 Transfer Classes". Hoops HQ. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
^ VanHoose, Jenna (May 7, 2025). "Women's Hoops Adds Five to 2025-26 Signing Class". ucfknights.com. University of Central Florida Athletics. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
^ "2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule". UCF Athletics. Retrieved November 3, 2025.

[1] Blouin, Drew (July 16, 2025). "Ranking All 16 Women's Big 12 Transfer Classes". Hoops HQ. Retrieved October 8, 2025.

[2] VanHoose, Jenna (May 7, 2025). "Women's Hoops Adds Five to 2025-26 Signing Class". ucfknights.com. University of Central Florida Athletics. Retrieved September 28, 2025.

[3] "2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule". UCF Athletics. Retrieved November 3, 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

UCF Knights women's basketball
Venues	Education Gymnasium (1977–1991) UCF Arena (1991–2007) Addition Financial Arena (2007–present)
Rivalries	South Florida
Culture & lore	History Knightro Marching Knights
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26

Previous season

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

Recruiting

Roster

Schedule and results

See also

References