Oct. 17, 2008
Lexington, KY – The Kentucky women’s team will hold its first practice of the 2008-09 season on Friday, October 17, on the women’s court in the Joe Craft Center.
Head coach Matthew Mitchell enters his second season at UK and welcomes back 10 letter winners from last year’s squad, including All-Southeastern Conference performers Victoria Dunlap (Nashville, Tenn.), Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.), and Amber Smith (Winter Haven, Fla.). Three new faces were added to the roster in Rebecca Gray (Georgetown, Ky.), Jackie Sanders (Birmingham, Ala.), and Keyla Snowden (Lexington, Ky.), although Gray and Snowden will sit out the 2008-09 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
The Wildcats are set to take the floor at 5 p.m. ET and will start preparations for another challenging SEC slate. Last season, Mitchell guided UK to a fourth-place finish in the league with an overall mark of 8-6, the most SEC wins by a first-year head coach in school history. The Wildcats overcame injuries to key players (five different players missed a total of 50 games) and navigated their way through one of the nation’s toughest schedules (14th) to post their fourth consecutive winning season. Along the way, the Cats earned three wins against nationally ranked opponents (Georgia twice and Auburn) and a school-record five Wildcats earned postseason honors.
“We are extremely excited to begin practice because this is one of those fun days we’ve been working so hard for and we can hardly believe it’s actually here,” Mitchell said. “Our players have put in a lot of work to prepare for this day and I feel this team has the opportunity to be very special.”
The Wildcats will face 17 opponents that participated in postseason play last year, including five conference champions and four runner-ups. Twelve squads advanced to the NCAA Tournament and five appeared in the WNIT. The Cats will once again meet NCAA Champion Tennessee and Final Four participant LSU in a home-and-home series. UK also will meet four first-time opponents in Furman, Alabama A&M, UC Santa Barbara and Yale.
The season begins with two free exhibition games on Nov. 5 vs. Kentucky State (7 p.m.) and Nov. 9 vs. Bellarmine (2 p.m.). UK Hoops’ season opener is Saturday, Nov. 15 vs. Michigan. All homes games will be played in Memorial Coliseum. For ticket information, log on to UKathletics.com or call the UK ticket office at 859-257-1818 or 1-800-928-CATS (2287).
