2022 Banneret Awards: Women’s Game of the Year

It’s time for the 2022 Black & Gold Banneret Awards!

Each year we pass out a bunch of awards honoring the best athletes, coaches, teams, and moments of the previous UCF Knights athletic year. Our staff votes, and so do you, the fans.

Here’s how it works: We, the staff, put together our nominees for each award. You can listen to our nominations podcast episode here. Over the next couple of weeks, we will open fan voting for each award. Each staff member gets one vote, and the winner of the fan vote will get one vote. If there is a tie, the fan vote will be the tiebreaker. We will announce the winners in two weeks.

Our 2022 Black & Gold Banneret Awards continue with Women’s Game of the Year. Here are your nominees:

Softball’s 11-inning victory over Michigan (NCAA Orlando Regional)

Resume:

• The win sealed the Knights’ trip to an NCAA Regional Final.
• Pitcher Kama Woodall tied a career high by pitching 11 innings, which also set a team record in an NCAA Tournament game.
• Left fielder Maddie Bejarano tied Stephanie Best’s 2005 mark for the most doubles hit in a single NCAA Tournament game with two. Those RBIs by Bejarano happened to be the game-tying and game-winning RBI doubles.
• The team's three total doubles in the game tied a program NCAA Tournament record.

Women’s Basketball’s claims AAC Tournament title vs. USF

Resume:

• The win clinched the Knights’ first conference tournament title since 2011.
• The UCF defense allowed only six points in the 4th quarter.
• After not going to the free throw line once in the first half, the Knights shot 12-14 from the line in the fourth quarter alone. USF went 4-8 from the line for the whole game.
• Guard Alisha Lewis and Forward Brittney Smith teamed up to score 12 bench points for the Knights compared to USF’s zero.

Track and Field Sets Meet Record At AAC Outdoor Track and Field Championship

Resume:

• The Knights scored a meet record 163 points, beating out the previous mark set by SMU in 2014 (153.2 points).
• Rayniah Jones ran a Cessna Stadium record 12.93 in the 100-meter hurdles final to win the gold medal. Jones also took bronze in the 100-meter dash.
• Latasha Smith (400-meter dash), Selena Wright (400-meter hurdles), the 4x100-meter relay team, and the 4x400-meter relay team also took gold medals.

Women’s Basketball earns 1st NCAA Tournament win over Florida

Resume:

• Forward Brittney Smith got a career-high 26 points, the most by a Knight in an NCAA Tournament game.
• Guard Diamond Battles and forward Masseny Kaba scored 18 and 14 points respectively on the night. Combined, Smith, Battles, and Kaba scored 58 points, 84 percent of the team total.
• Battles’ seven assists were the most by a Knight in a postseason game. Guard Tay Sanders made a career-high six assists.
• UCF’s 19 assists are the most in program history in an NCAA Tournament game.
• Kaba made a career-high five blocks.
• UCF’s nine blocks on the game was not just a season high, but the most in program history in an NCAA Tournament game.

Softball’s extra-inning Opening Knight victory over Georgia

Resume:

• UCF, who was just receiving votes at the time, defeated a No. 12-ranked Georgia.
• First baseman Shannon Doherty got the victory with a walk-off home run in the 8th inning, which is up for the American Athletic Conference’s Play of the Year.
• 1,093 people attended the game, 144 shy of the all-time attendance record at The Plex.
• It was the first time the Knights defeated Georgia after two prior meetings in 2017 and 2010.

Vote for who you think is the 2022 UCF Women’s Game of the Year below: