The Kentucky women?s basketball team will face 10th-seeded Arkansas in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament Thursday, March 1. Game time is slated for 3:30 p.m. EST at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. The game will be carried live on FSN South (TV) and the Big Blue Sports network (radio) with Neil Price. Tickets are available online at secsports.com or by calling (404) 249-6400. Prices are: reserved tournament book, $75; general admission Dr Pepper Six-Pack tournament book, $45; reserved single-session (six sessions total), $15; general admission single-session, $10.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats (17-12, 6-8 SEC) are 17-27 overall in SEC Tournament action and hold a 9-10 mark in the first round. Last season, UK received a first-round bye in the tournament before defeating No. 25 Florida, 88-70, in the quarterfinals. The Cats fell to top-seeded LSU, 79-52, in the semifinals, their highest finish in the SEC Tournament since advancing to the semis in 1999.
?Arkansas is a very, very good basketball team,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?They are a dangerous team and I?m looking for them to be very motivated to play us after losing to us in Lexington a week ago. We will certainly have our hands full. We believe that we are still alive for NCAA play. Anything can happen in the SEC Tournament and we have to go down there believing.?
Arkansas (18-12, 3-11 SEC) and Kentucky (17-12, 6-8 SEC) meet for the 23rd time in the overall series and just the third time in the SEC Tournament. The Lady Razorbacks, who didn?t join the SEC until the 1991-92 season, lead the series 12-9 despite dropping three straight to the Wildcats. The series is tied at 1-1 in the SEC Tournament. UK handed Arkansas a 27-point loss (87-60) on Senior Day, Feb. 18 in the teams? only meeting in Rupp Arena. Sophomore Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.) led four Wildcats in double-figures with a career-high 23 points.
The winner of Thursday?s game will face No. 2 seed Georgia Friday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m. EST.
UK?s semifinal appearances in 1992, 1999 and 2006 mark the highest SEC Tournament finishes for the Cats since winning the tournament in 1982.
Former UK Trustee and UK Great to be honored by SEC
Former Kentucky Board of Trustee Alice Sparks and former women?s basketball player Lea Wise Prewitt will be honored by the Southeastern Conference at halftime of the Kentucky vs. Arkansas game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. EST.
Sparks has been named Kentucky?s SEC Honored Guest, which is given to a successful businesswoman from each conference school. Over the past 30 years, Sparks has helped direct significant changes in academic policies and organization of higher education in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. She has served on the Board of Trustees at both the University of Kentucky and Northern Kentucky University and was the first woman to chair a public university board when she served as Chairman of the Board at NKU from 1995-97. She also chaired the Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee at UK and was a member of the Board?s Nominating Committee. She has represented the UK Board of Trustees on the Athletic Board and was a trustee representative to the Lawson Committee charged with reviewing and improving the athletic department. From 1988 to 1993, she served as the legislative chairwoman of the Kentucky Parent-Teacher Association. During her term, legislators passed the Kentucky Educational Reform Act. She has won numerous awards, among them the 1998 Nancy Janes Boothe Award for Perseverance and Achievement. Sparks currently serves on over 10 boards locally and state-wide, including Chair of the Board of Directors for the Continuing Care Retirement Community.
Prewitt will be honored as UK?s SEC Great. Lea Wise, as she was known during her playing days, was a dynamic guard for Kentucky from 1980-83. A Lexington product, Wise was one of the most popular players to ever don the Blue and White. During her four-year career, Kentucky compiled a record of 96-24 (.800) and claimed the 1982 SEC Championship. Wise, who was named to the All-SEC team in 1982, scored a career-high 30 points to help give UK its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory over Illinois that season. She still ranks tied for third in career assists with 464 dishes and is 15th in career scoring with 1,179 points. With her golden locks and resemblance to actress Farah Fawcett, Wise also led the team in autographed pictures during her UK career.
This marks the seventh year of the Greats program. The previous UK honorees were: 2001 ? Tiffany Wait; 2002 ? Valerie Still; 2003 ? Stacey Reed Sheppard; 2004 ? Leslie Nichols; 2005 ? Lisa Collins; 2006 ? Patty Jo Hedges.
