LEXINGTON, Ky. – Only two games remain before the Southeastern Conference Tournament on March 6-9 in Nashville, Tenn., and the Kentucky women?s basketball team looks to end the season on an upswing and secure a first-round bye in the tournament for the second time in three years. In order to do that, the Wildcats must defeat a tough Arkansas team Sunday, Feb. 24 in Fayetteville, Ark. The game will be aired live on the Big Blue Sports Radio Network with Neil Price. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. EST in Bud Walton Arena.
UK (13-13, 7-5 SEC) currently ranks fourth in the SEC standings with a 7-5 record, one game ahead of Auburn (6-5) and Georgia (6-5). Arkansas (17-9, 2-9 SEC) began the non-conference season with an impressive 15-0 record but received a huge blow in the SEC opener against LSU when All-America candidate Lauren Ervin (16.0 ppg, 11.0 rpg) went down with a torn ACL. Since that game, the Lady Razorbacks have won only two games vs. Alabama and Mississippi State.
?Arkansas has not experienced a lot of success in the conference but they have been extremely competitive,? UK Coach Matthew Mitchell said. ?They have been playing better recently and I think it will be one of our toughest test this year. Going on the road is always hard and we have back-to-back road games. Arkansas will create some match-up problems for us. Their post-players are pretty mobile and they have good perimeter shooters. It will be a test of wills to see what will happen with our inside game. We want to fight against their mobility.?
Kentucky is coming off a near-upset of No. 6 LSU in Baton Rouge on Thursday. The Wildcats rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half to tie the game at 48 with 1:51 remaining. LSU?s Erica White scored on a layup with 1:30 to go and UK?s two attempts to tie fell short. The Cats were forced to foul in the closing seconds and LSU went on to capture the 52-48 victory.
Senior Samantha Mahoney, who scored a team-high 12 points vs. LSU, continues as UK?s leading scorer, averaging 13.0 points per game (11th in the SEC), including 11.5 in SEC play. Elliott follows with 11.0 points and is tied as the team?s leading rebounder with 6.4 boards per game. Freshman forward Victoria Dunlap averages 7.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. She pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds Thursday vs. the Lady Tigers.
Four players average in double-figures for Arkansas with junior Ayana Brereton leading the way with 11.6 ppg. Senior point guard Brittney Vaughn, who led the SEC in assists as a junior, again has amassed over 100 assists this season (115). She follows Brereton in the scoring column with 10.6 ppg. Junior post player Whitney Jones is close behind with 10.6 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game.
A familiar face to UK Hoops fans roams the sidelines in his first season at Arkansas. Former Louisville head coach Tom Collen became the seventh head coach at Arkansas in the spring of 2007.
Arkansas leads the overall series 12-10 but Kentucky has had success over the Lady ?Backs in the last three years, having won the four in a row, including both meetings last season. However, Arkansas holds a decisive 8-1 lead in games played in Fayetteville. UK?s lone win came in 2006, 79-50. It marked the Cats? first win at Arkansas in the all-time series.
UK?s final regular-season game is Sunday, March 2 at 3 p.m. EST in Rupp Arena. Four Wildcat seniors (Chante? Bowman, Chelsea Chowning, Sarah Elliott and Samanth Mahoney) will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
