ORLANDO — “I tell her that she has ice in her veins.”
As expressed in UCF head coach Sytia Messer’s postgame affirmation, freshman Emely Rodriguez has looked every bit the part of a major contributor for her team just two games into its new season.
Rodriguez, seeing just over 20 minutes of action off the bench, paced the Knights (2-0) on the scoresheet with a game-high 18 points to lead the UCF women’s basketball team to a 57-50 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles (0-1) at Addition Financial Arena Thursday evening.
In besting Marquette, the Knights toppled a squad that went 23-9 and made the NCAA Field of 64 a year ago and has earned selections to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four seasons, producing an aggregate 86-38 record in that span.
UCF also remained unbeaten in two all-time matchups between the two programs and jumped out to a 2-0 start for the third time in as many seasons under Messer as well.
“We came out of the gate well. As the game went on our lack of chemistry on the offensive end showed, but we’re going to get better with that,” said Messer. “It comes from having so many weapons on the offensive end. We’ll get there, but overall, we did well.”
Though Rodriguez represented the contest’s leading scorer, returning sophomore Achol Akot (10 points) kickstarted the Knights’ offense, scoring eight of her team’s 18 first-quarter points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field.
The Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, native produced the game’s first two points on a driving layup 13 seconds in, and later scored four of 10 unanswered points that helped push the home five out to a 12-5 advantage.
Akot, graduate student transfer Nevaeh Brown and senior transfer Hannah Gusters accounted for the final six points of the frame as UCF brought an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.
The Knights battled through a defensive second frame that saw Marquette edge UCF 10 points to nine, highlighted by 2023-24 Big 12 leading scorer Kaitlin Peterson’s first triple of the contest, as well as the first three points of the night by Rodriguez. But after building a 27-14 lead with 6:07 left in the half, the Golden Eagles would close the period on an 8-0 run, and went to the break down, 27-22.
Shots from beyond the arc began to fall the Knights’ way in the third quarter. Gusters and Akot both began the frame with two points before Peterson knocked down her second 3-point shot, followed immediately by senior transfer Ally Stedman’s first converted try from deep.
Rodriguez found herself at the center of the Black and Gold offense the rest of the way, scoring five of UCF’s final seven points of the frame, including her first 3-pointer, to push UCF’s lead to 44-32 entering the final stanza, and she the scored nine of the Knights’ 13 fourth-quarter points as well.
A six-point Rodriguez explosion, on a 3-pointer and an old-fashioned ‘and-1’, gave UCF a 16-point, 52-36, lead with 6:15 remaining, before the guests went on a 14-5 run to end the game, getting as close as five points, 53-48, with 1:05 left.
On Tuesday, three Knights scored in double digit as UCF overcame a slow start for a 76-44 victory over Iona (0-1), as the 2024-25 season commenced in Addition Financial Arena.
“I thought the second half we settled down,” said Messer. “Every player was anxious and excited to produce and we didn’t execute well in the first half. It was the first game in front of our crowd but once we finally settled down we started to execute.”
Iona held an 11-6 lead with 1:48 left in the first quarter when back-to-back free throws from Rodriguez ignited a 6-0 run that gave UCF a one-point lead, 12-11.
The Black and Gold settled in during the second quarter as Nevaeh Brown scored in the paint to spark a 16-0 run from the Knights as they headed into halftime with a 20-point lead, 38-18. The Knights went 10-for-19 from the field, pouring in 26 points and limiting the Gaels to just seven points in the second.
Coming out of the locker room, UCF continued to put the pressure on the guests as it kept hold of a double-digit lead throughout the remainder of the game scoring a total of 38 points in the second half and forcing 12 turnovers.
The Knights utilized their bench, which accounted for 28 points.
Kaitlin Peterson led UCF with 22 points, marking her 14th 20-plus point game and tallied five steals. Rodriguez tallied 13 points in her collegiate debut. Donning the Black and Gold for the first time, Gusters recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Akot snagged 13 rebounds which marks the most by any player nationally in the young season.
Nine Knights made their UCF debut including Lucie Castagne, Mahogany Chandler-Roberts, Summer Yancy, Adeang Ring, Arek Angui, Gusters, Brown and Stedman.
The win marked the Black and Gold's seventh consecutive victory in a season opener.
Up Next:
After playing two games in a three-day span, the Knights will be idle until the Stetson Hatters come to Addition Financial Arena on Saturday, November 16. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
Here are the box scores:
Tuesday, November 5
UCF 76, Iona 44
Iona (0-1)
Ella Fajardo 2-4 0-0 4, Destinee Salgado 2-4 0-0 4, Judith Gomez 1-2 1-2 3, Zoey Ward 1-7 0-0 3, Talia DePetrillo 0-1 1-2 1, Mya Zaccagnini 5-15 1-2 13, Emma Donnelly 3-7 0-0 7, Erin Leary 2-5 0-0 5, Ally Carman 1-3 0-0 2, Chloe Vasquez 0-3 0-0 0, Ale Civera 0-3 0-0 0, Amaya Evans 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-54 5-10 44.
UCF (1-0)
Kaitlin Peterson 9-16 3-6 22, Hannah Gusters 5-7 2-4 12, Nevaeh Brown 2-6 1-2 6, Achol Akot 2-9 2-2 6, Ally Stedman 0-3 2-2 2, Emely Rodriguez 5-13 3-4 13, Adeang Ring 1-2 2-4 4, Mahogany Chandler-Roberts 2-4 0-0 4, Arek Angui 1-3 1-2 3, Khyala Ngodu 1-3 0-0 2, Summer Yancy 1-1 0-0 2, Lucie Castagne 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-67 16-26 76.
Iona 11 7 11 15 _ 44
UCF 12 26 23 15 _ 76
3-point field goals _ Iona 5-28 (Zaccagnini 2-8, Donnelly 1-4, Leary 1-4, Ward 1-3, Vasquez 0-3, Rivera 0-2, Fajardo 0-1, Salgado 0-1, Gomez 0-1, DePetrillo 0-1); UCF 2-10 (Peterson 1-4, Brown 1-4, Rodriguez 0-1, Stedman 0-1). Team fouls _ Iona 28; UCF 13. Fouled out _ Iona, Salgado. Technical fouls _ none. Rebounds _ Iona 29 (Carman 4); UCF 53 (Akot 13, Gusters 10). Turnovers _ Iona 25; UCF 17. Assists _ Iona 10 (Vasquez 3); UCF 7 (Peterson, Brown 2 each). Steals _ Iona 5 (Civera 2); UCF 13 (Peterson 5, Brown 3, Stedman 2). Blocked shots _ Iona 5 (Leary 3); UCF 3 (Akot, Ring, Yancy).
Thursday, November 7
UCF 57, Marquette 50
Marquette (0-1)
Olivia Porter 3-6 8-9 14, Skylar Forbes 4-16 0-0 11, Lee Volker 5-11 0-0 10, Jada Bediako 2-7 0-0 4, Halle Vice 0-2 0-0 0, Bridget Utberg 1-2 1-2 3, Kennedi Perkins 1-3 0-0 2, Charia Smith 0-2 2-2 2, Jaidynn Mason 1-4 0-0 2, Aryelle Stevens 1-1 0-0 2, Abbey Cracknell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 18-55 11-13 50.
UCF (2-0)
Achol Akot 5-6 0-0 10, Hannah Gusters 4-12 1-2 9, Kaitlin Peterson 3-11 1-2 9, Nevaeh Brown 2-4 0-2 4, Ally Stedman 1-3 0-0 3, Emely Rodriguez 5-8 6-7 18, Khyala Ngodu 1-2 2-2 4, Lucie Castagne 0-0 0-0 0, Adeang Ring 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-47 10-15 57.
Marquette 12 10 10 18 _ 50
UCF 18 9 17 13 _ 57
3-point field goals _ MAR 3-18 (Forbes 3-9, Volker 0-4, Porter 0-2, Vice 0-1, Utberg 0-1, Cracknell 0-1); UCF 5-12 (Peterson 2-5, Rodriguez 2-3, Stedman 1-3, Brown 0-1). Team fouls _ MAR 18; UCF 15. Fouled out _ none. Technical fouls _ none. Rebounds _ MAR 26 (Volker 6); UCF 38 (Gusters 12, Rodriguez 7). Turnovers _ MAR 19; UCF 27. Assists _ MAR 9 (Forbes 3, Porter 2); UCF 15 (Akot, Peterson 4 each, Rodriguez 3). Steals _ MAR 11 (Volker 4, Porter 3); UCF 8 (Gusters 3, Stedman, Rodriguez 2 each). Blocked shots _ MAR 4 (Forbes, Bediako 2 each); UCF 2 (Akot, Rodriguez).
