Ole Miss Women’s Basketball Adds Standout UCF Transfer Guard Kaitlin Peterson

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss women’s basketball just got stronger with UCF transfer guard Kaitlin Peterson heading to Oxford, bringing her dynamic scoring ability and big-game experience to the Rebels as they are in the midst of another deep postseason run.

Peterson is the third transfer commit of the 2025-2026 portal season — and the day — for head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, joining Latasha Lattimore and Jayla Murray. 

Boom! Coach @YolettMcCuin is three-for-three today as @OleMissWBB lands UCF transfer guard Kaitlin Peterson. 🔥

A 2024-2025 All-Big XII Honorable Mention award winner, Peterson averaged 21.4 PPG, 2.2 REB, and 1.9 ASTs last season. pic.twitter.com/SrsaiDQ1Dw

— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) March 31, 2025

Career outlook 

Peterson earned All-Big 12 honorable mention honors at the end of the 2024-2025 regular season, averaging 21.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game this past season at UCF. Her scoring average was the highest in program history for a single season.

In her junior year and first year with the Knights, the 5-foot-9 guard led the Big 12 in scoring with 20.7 points per game. Peterson also earned second team Big 12 honors as the conference’s leading scorer in 2023-2024.

In 2025, Peterson notched 30 points in five different games with one of those performances coming against current NCAA Tournament No. 2-seed TCU when she scored 34 points and hit four of her five three-point attempts. The senior transfer scored 39 points against Texas Southern early in the season, making her the fourth highest single game scorer in UCF history.

In 2025, Peterson became 20th Knight to accumulate 1,000 career points but was first to do so through just two seasons. The guard scored 1,156 of her 1,211 career points in just 55 games at UCF.

Beginning her career with the Indiana Hoosiers, Peterson played 21 games as a freshman and six as a sophomore before transferring during the winter break. The guard recorded a season-high 11 points while hitting three triples at Illinois during her freshman season, playing a season-high 18 minutes as well. She also competed in the NCAA Tournament as a freshman, competing in the Round of 64 game against Charlotte and scoring a bucket in six minutes played.

Coming out of Eufaula High School in Eufaula, Alabama, Peterson was a 3-star prospect and rated as the 43rd best guard in the country. In other recruiting data bases she was rated as the No. 41 overall recruit by All Star Girls Report and No. 54 by Prospects Nation.

Peterson scored 2,967 points in her career at Eufaula and was named All-State four times by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. As a senior, the guard averaged 25 points per game along with 5.7 steals, 4.9 assists and 3.9 rebounds.

Experience replacing experience 

With the losses of KK Deans, Kennedy Todd-Williams and Tameiya Sadler looming in the distance for Team 50, Coach Yo will look heavily to replace the guard play in 2025-2026. Although Sira Thienou looks to be the future of the program, having an experienced guard in the back court alongside her will play a pivotal role in the team’s future success.

The Rebels have never been relied on the deep shot under Coach Yo, but replacing shooters like Deans and Sadler begins with the commitment of Peterson. In two seasons at UCF, Peterson knocked down 118 career triples, which is the fifth most in the program’s history.

The guard has made 45 plus threes in both seasons starting for the Knights, making 65 as a junior. For reference, Deans has made 55 triples so far for Team 50 with the next best being 32 from Sadler.

Peterson played a conference-high 36 minutes per game in 2024-2025, and although the Coach Yo runs a deep lineup, the ability have a veteran on the floor for 30 or more minutes is something all power four coaches look for. The Rebels will be losing a handful of seniors who played 30 minutes or close to it this season.