Coming off a solid 69-55 road win over Old Dominion last Saturday, No. 20/24 Kentucky will begin play in the fourth-annual Odwalla Classic in San Francisco on Friday when it faces Delaware in War Memorial Gymnasium. Tip-off in the first-ever meeting between the Wildcats and Blue Hens is set for 8 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio) with Neil Price.
In the win over Old Dominion, the Wildcats (2-1) were led by senior Jenny Pfeiffer (North Vernon, Ind.). Pfeiffer broke out of a two-game shooting slump with a season-high 22 points, including 14 in the first half alone. Sophomore point guard Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.) followed with a season-high 18 points and tied her career high with seven assists. Freshman forward Lydia Watkins (Hopkinsville, Ky.) stepped up big in a hostile environment, bringing down a career-high 11 rebounds to complement six points and two steals.
Ormerod leads the team and ranks 13th in the Southeastern Conference in scoring with a squad-best 13.0 ppg, having tallied double-digit point totals in each of UK?s last two games. Junior center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.), junior guard Samantha Mahoney (Detroit) and Pfeiffer follow in the scoring column with 10.0 ppg each. Mahoney also is dishing out a squad-best 5.0 assists per game. Senior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey (Memphis) leads the team on the boards with 10.0 rpg. Humphrey is tied for the league lead in rebounds per game.
“We face a very solid team in Delaware that has made it to the WNIT the last four years,” UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. “They have all of their starters back from last year and have a transfer player [Chrissy Fisher] from the University of Maryland that is putting up big numbers for them. It will be a challenge for us in that first game.
“I think these trips are extremely important,? DeMoss continued. ?When you go on the road ? particularly to the West coast ? we’ve just got each other. It gives the players some time to just be with each other and get to know one another on a personal level. It is just a good time, particularly for the young players, to grow up.”
Friday’s game marks UK?s second consecutive match-up with a team from the Colonial Athletic Association, and the Wildcats are 8-9 all-time vs. teams from the CAA. Delaware, located in Newark, Del., has recorded eight consecutive winning seasons ? a program record. The Blue Hens are 2-1 on the 2006-07 campaign after going 22-8 last season with their fourth consecutive WNIT appearance.
Senior Chrissy Fisher, a second-year transfer from Maryland, leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.3 ppg. She scored a team-high 25 points to help the Blue Hens defeat American University and posted a double-double (26 pts, 14 rebs.) in a loss to Boston College. Reigning CAA Defensive Player of the Year Tyresa Smith follows in the scoring column with 14.7 ppg. Coach Tina Martin is in her 11th season at the helm, with a record of 192-106.
This is Kentucky’s second appearance in the Odwalla Classic in the past four years. The Cats were runners-up in the 2003-04 tournament after defeating Duquesne before falling to the host Dons. Kentucky is 77-33 all-time in regular-season tournament action.
The Wildcats will face either host San Francisco or Southern Illinois on Saturday at either 8 p.m. or 10 p.m. EST. That game also will be carried live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio).
