Coach Kelly Rae Finley announced that Florida women’s basketball has added a 5-9 Guard to the 2023-24 official roster. Graduate Student Kenza Salgues comes to the Florida Gators via the transfer portal after playing her last 4 seasons at The University of Miami (FL).
“We immediately felt a large amount of determination,” Finley said. “The words that come to mind for Kenza are: confident, caring, and strong-willed. She took every opportunity to get to know us better as a program and we are excited for her to be a Gator.”
Salgues, originally from Montpellier, France was ranked the No. 20 international player of the 2018 recruiting class before coming to the United States. After joining the Hurricanes as a freshman (2019), Salgues showed her dominance on offense scoring in 10 games for Miami during her inaugural season. Salgues also made herself known appearing in 25 of the 30 games played for the Hurricanes and leading all freshman in 3-point field goals made.
In her most recent season with the Hurricanes, Salgues helped the team reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament, before falling to the 2023 tournament champions. Her season high in scoring during the 2022-23 season was eight against North Florida (Dec. 4). Salgues went 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-5 from the three. Salgues is also known to be aggressive on the rim, grabbing one or more rebounds in over half the games played in her senior season. Overall, Salgues has had 40 NCAA appearances and has proven to be a strong contender on the court.
“I felt like this team was a family, and they made me feel very comfortable right away,” Salgues said when reflecting on her visit. “By the end of my visit it was like I knew the team for years. My mom even looked at me and said, “I haven’t seen my daughter smile like this in a long time,” the campus just felt like home,” the transfer commented. When asked about the upcoming season Salgues stated, “I look forward to winning and making the tournament with this team. I feel like not enough people believe in us right now and I want to help change that.”
In addition to Salgues, the Gators’ also welcomed highly competitive transfers: Alexia Dizeko (South Georgia Tech) and Eriny Kindred (Texas A&M). McDonald’s All-American Laila Reynolds was also an addition to the 2023-24. The Gators’ core returners include Zippy Broughton (missed 2022-23 due to injury), Leilani Correa, Faith Dut, Ra Shaya Kyle, Aliyah Matharu (sat out 2022-23 due to transfer rules), Myka Perry, Alberte Rimdal and Jeriah Warren.