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• TSU women's basketball hosts Big 12 member UCF Saturday afternoon inside the H&PE Arena at 1 p.m.
• This marks the third season for TSU head coach Vernette Skeete. This season also marks the first time the roster will be upperclassman heavy after fielding underclassmen-heavy rosters the past two years. Five newcomers were added via the transfer portal and two via the JUCO ranks.
• TSU returns three starters and six letterwiners as the Tigers also underwent a change in their coaching staff as they added a pair of assistant coaches and an operations director in the offseason.
• TSU will face UCF for the second time in school history as the teams last met in 2022 in Orlando, Fla. UCF assistant Walter Pitts served as an assistant at TSU on the men's side from 2010-14.
• UCF marks the second consecutive Big 12 team TSU will face and the third this season as they played Baylor and Oklahoma State.
• Junior forward Jaida Belton was named to the 2024 Southwestern Athletic Conference Preseason All-SWAC Second Team. A native of Baltimore, Md., Belton was TSU's top rebounder with seven boards per game while also averaging 8.2 points per contest. She has emerged as one of the top shot blockers in the SWAC with 48 blocks last season.
• TSU ranks second nationally in offensive rebounds (21.5) and sixth in rebounds (46.3). They rank 12th in steals per game (13.5). Aaliyah Henderson leads the team and is 14th nationally with 3.2 steals per game.
• TSU was picked to finish ninth in the SWAC's Preseason Poll.
• TSU will square off against five NCAA D-1 conferences this year as they'll face teams from the Big 12 (3), American (2), WAC (2), SEC (1), Southland (2).
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Source: https://tsusports.com/news/2024/12/7/womens-basketball-to-host-ucf-saturday-afternoon.aspx