Peach Tree Times

The University of Georgia women's basketball team has landed Diamond Battles, one of the top college players in the country, the school said in a news release this week.

Battles is transferring from the University of Central Florida and will be a fifth-year senior at UGA for the 2022-23 season.

"Diamond Battles is one of the nation's most elite players, and I  look forward to seeing the impact she will have on this program," coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said in the release. "Diamond has a 'Dawg' mentality on the court — she is a relentless defender who can score and distribute the basketball as a next-level point guard."     

Battles was UCF's leading scorer this past season, averaging 13.9 points per game with 3.4 assists and 2.1 steals, the release said. She led the Knights to one of their best seasons in school history, with the team being crowned conference regular season- and tournament champs and earning the team's highest NCAA Tournament seeding and a program-best 26-4 overall record.                             

Battles was also tabbed Conference Defensive Player of the Year after helping UCF post the top scoring defense in the country, holding opponents to 50 points or less 18 times and giving up a nation-low 47.8 points per game, the release said.

The 5-8 guard scored in double figures 23 times last year, including a career-high 25 points against Memphis, the release said. 

"She also ranked fifth in the league in steals, sixth in scoring and 12th in assists and ranks among UCF's career top-10 leaders in assists (300), steals (168) and free-throws made (255)," the release said.