OXFORD, Miss. – Kentucky Coach Mickie DeMoss used a different starting lineup for the first time all season and it proved to be a heads-up call by the third-year coach. Junior guard Nastassia Alcius (Lexington, Ky.), in her first starting nod of the season, scored a season-high 16 points Sunday in helping lead the Wildcats to an 81-75 win over Ole Miss in the C.M. ?Tad? Smith Coliseum.
Alcius connected on 5-of-9 shots from the field with two three-pointers and made 4-of-4 free-throws for the Wildcats, who improve to 14-4 overall and 3-2 in Southeastern Conference play. The Cats begin league action 3-2 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Sophomore center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.), who came off the bench for the first time this season, notched her third career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
Alcius and sophomore forward/center Eleia Roddy (Columbus, Ohio) started in place of sophomore guard Samantha Mahoney (Detroit) and Elliott, marking the first change in the lineup this season.
“I was not happy with our board play and defense against Auburn and I thought that there were some other players on our team who had earned the chance to start,? DeMoss said. ?I thought it was a good sign today that Sarah Elliott and Samantha Mahoney responded off the bench and Nastassia came up big for us”
Junior guard Jenny Pfeiffer (North Vernon, Ind.), playing with a sprained ankle, led the Wildcats in scoring with a team-high 19 points, including 9-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line. Pfeiffer made 8-of-8 clutch free-throws in the last 52 seconds of the game to account for UK?s last eight points. Pfeiffer has now made 19 consecutive free-throws. The Wildcats shot a season-high 89.7 percent (26-of-29) of their free-throws in the game.
?Anytime you can win on the road in this conference, it is huge,? DeMoss said. ?Ole Miss is a good team. They have been in the NCAA Tournament the past two years and we knew that they were not going to go away. I thought we had a lot of people step up big for us today. It was really a total team effort.?
Mahoney finished with 15 points and dished out a season-high five assists off the bench for UK, connecting on 4-of-4 free-throws. Kentucky rebounded Ole Miss 48-34.
Kentucky, which trailed 56-55 with 9:03 left in the game, went on a 9-0 run over the next 3:02 to move ahead 64-56 with 6:01 remaining, capped off by a the first of two key three-pointers by freshman point guard Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.). Lay-ups by Ashley Awkward twice cut UK?s advantage to four points with seconds remaining in the game, but that was as close as the Lady Rebels would come.
Ole Miss began the game slow offensively and Kentucky was able to capitalize, breaking to an early 11-3 advantage. Alcius had four points during the opening stretch that was capped off at the 14:35 mark by a pair of free-throws from Ormerod. The Lady Rebels kept battling to come as close as three points, 17-14, on a three-pointer by Carla Bartee with 10:01 remaining until halftime. From there, the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run backed by three-pointers by Alcius and Pfeiffer to extend their lead to 25-14 with 8:25 left in the opening period.
With the Cats ahead 25-14 at the 8:25 mark of the first half, Ole Miss went on an 11-0 run over the next 3:59 to tie the score at 25. After the Lady Rebels took a brief lead, back-to-back three-pointers by Mahoney moved UK ahead 37-32 with 1:33 left. Pfeiffer then knocked down a three to put the Cats in front, 40-34, with a minute left until intermission. Elliott connected on a three-point play to close the half on an 8-0 run and send Kentucky into the locker room with a nine-point, 43-34, advantage.
In a foul-plagued first half, which saw the two teams combine for 31 free-throw attempts, the Wildcats connected on 86 percent (12-of-14) of its charity shots in the opening period. Kentucky, which was led by Alcius? 14 points in the first half, out-rebounded the Lady Rebels 24-14 before halftime.
Kentucky carried its momentum into the second half, as Alcius and Roddy made back-to-back baskets to put the Wildcats ahead 47-37 with 18:33 left in the game. With UK ahead 48-42, Ole Miss went on an 8-0 run to take a 50-48 lead on a three-pointer by Bartee with 13:42 remaining. A three-point play by Pfeiffer allowed the Cats to regain the lead at 51-50, but the Lady Rebels went back in front 54-53 on a three-pointer by Tasi Worsham.
The Wildcats shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) from the field in the game, while holding Ole Miss to 39.4 percent (26-of-66) from the floor. The Lady Rebels were only able to connect on 51.4 percent of their 35 free-throw attempts (18-of-35). Ole Miss was led by Armintie Price?s game-high 22 points.
Kentucky returns to action Thursday when it hosts No. 1 Tennessee in Rupp Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be carried live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio and television).
Single-game general admission tickets are available for $5 adults/$2 senior citizens and children ages 18 and under. UK students, faculty and staff are admitted free with valid identification based on availability. For ticket information, log on to ukathletics.com or call the UK ticket office at 859-257-1818 or 1-800-928-CATS (2287).
Live audio and statistics for all UK Hoops games will be available on ukathletics.com.
