A week after the UCF women’s basketball team dropped 101 points in its season-opening win, more Knights newcomers introduced themselves to produce their second win.
Behind double-digit scoring from six players, UCF (2-0) battled through a tight first 30 minutes before utilizing a 31-point fourth-quarter surge to topple the Anderson Trojans 96-73 at Addition Financial Arena Monday night.
“Six players in double figures — that’s part of the reason we were able to put up 96 points,” coach Sytia Messer said. “But we also gave up 73. That wasn’t our goal. We have to get better on that part, collectively, but we had different people step up.”
Throughout the Knights’ comfortable victory over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 6, it was junior transfer guard Kaitlin Peterson and her career-high 31-point game that helped propel UCF to its 38-point win. Monday night, a late push that began in the waning minutes of the third quarter aided the Knights.
With UCF trailing by three and just more than three minutes to play in the third period, the Knights put together a rally that began at the free-throw line. Peterson, Mya Burns and Taylor Gibson combined for the final 10 points to give UCF a 65-61 lead entering the fourth.
Burns, in addition to her 16 points, also snagged 11 rebounds for UCF’s first double-double of the season.
Freshman forward Achol Akot (14 points) netted eight of UCF’s next 12 points to begin the fourth quarter before Peterson (team-high 18 points) made her lone 3-pointer to put the game out of reach.
Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu scored 13 points while Laila Jewett added 12 and Gibson 10.
