Senior guard/forward Sara Potts scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Kentucky women?s basketball team to a 91-54 win over Chattanooga Sunday in the second round action of the Sportsview.tv Women?s National Invitation Tournament in Memorial Coliseum. Potts connected on 11-of-19 shots from the field and made a school-record tying seven three-pointers in the win.
Kentucky advances to the quarterfinals of the Sportsview.tv WNIT and will play host to the winner of the Indiana State/Xavier game on Thursday, March 24 at 7 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum. ISU and Xavier tip off Monday, March 21 at 7 p.m. ET at ISU.
?I enjoyed coaching this team today,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?This has to rank as one of our top two or three performances of the year. It was good intensity for 40 minutes. Of course, Sara Potts was just phenomenal today. I thought our defensive pressure bothered them and we were able to put the hammer down on them in the second half. I knew they wouldn?t quit but I thought our defensive pressure started wearing them down in the second half.?
The Wildcats (17-15), who defeated Eastern Michigan 79-68 on Friday in the first round, looked a bit sluggish themselves in the opening minutes, missing five of their first six field goal attempts. Chattanooga (25-5) built a six-point lead (8-2) after four minutes of play before freshman Chante? Bowman nailed back-to-back jumpers, followed by a layup from fellow freshman Samantha Mahoney. The freshman tandem helped tie the game at 10 apiece with 14:18 remaining in the first half. The UK freshman trio of Mahoney, Bowman and center Sarah Elliott combined for 17 of UK?s first 20 points.
?Anytime Chante? Bowman steps up and hits those shots early, it just gives us that extra scoring punch from the four-spot,? DeMoss said. ?When she can step up and knock down those shots, it just opens up so much more. She was able to do that today. She played very aggressive. (Sam) Mahoney is continually getting better. She?s being a consistent scorer for us and had seven assists tonight. (Sarah) Elliott didn?t have one of her better games, but she was still able to step in there and knock down some shots for us.?
Chattanooga?s Laura Hall hit a three-pointer at the 13:14 mark in the first half, giving the Lady Mocs a slight 16-13 lead. An old-fashioned three-point play by Bowman tied the game at 16 apiece for the third and final time at the 11:52 mark. The Cats proceeded to go on a 16-2 run to take a 34-19 advantage with 4:46 left until halftime. UK would not trail again.
The Wildcats shot 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the floor in the first half and made 50 percent (4-of-8) of their shots from three-point range, taking a 43-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Lady Mocs proved no match for the Wildcats in the second half, as Kentucky quickly built on its 12-point halftime lead. The Cats pulled ahead by 21 (58-37) with 14:20 remaining in the game as Phillips drove the lane for a crafty lay-up. UK then went on a 14-2 run over the next 3:08 to push their lead out to 33 (72-39) with just over 10 minutes left. UK led by as many as 37 points in the game and outscored the Lady Mocs by 23 points in the second half. UK handed Chattanooga its worst loss of the season.
?You have to give Kentucky a lot of credit,? UTC Coach Wes Moore said. ?I thought they got after us defensively and took us out of our comfort zone to where we couldn?t run any type of offense. Offensively, they didn?t miss. When you go up against an SEC team, as a mid-major (conference team), you have to hope that they have an off-day shooting the ball. It was the other end of the spectrum today. Again, it was just a worst-case scenario all the way around and if nothing else, maybe it?s something we can learn from and move forward.?
Bowman and Mahoney followed Potts in the scoring column with 12 and 11 points, respectively. All 10 Wildcats saw action in the game, with nine of those players scoring at least two points. Sophomore point guard Angela Phillips and junior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey each added eight points, while Nastassia Alcius, Sarah Elliott and Danyelle Payne each chipped in six.
Chattanooga, which shot 37.7 percent from the floor, was led by Katasha Brown with 14.
Kentucky shot an impressive 59.3 percent (35-of-59) from the floor in the game, including a 63.3 percent (19-of-30) clip in the second half. Mahoney also dished out a career-high seven assists in the game. As a team, UK made all 11 of its free-throw attempts, tying the school record for best free throw percentage in a game (11-of-11 for 100 percent vs. Morehead in 1977).
The Cats committed a season-low 10 turnovers in the game, while forcing the Lady Mocs into 18. UK was able to score 30 points off of UT-Chattanooga miscues.
Tickets are on sale now for Thursday?s quarterfinal round vs. Xavier or Indiana State. To purchase tickets call the UK ticket office at 859-257-1818 or 1-800-928-CATS (2287). Ticket office hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. Ticket prices are: $7 for all reserved seats regardless of age. General admission tickets are $7 adults/$4 for UK students, senior citizens and children ages 18 and under.
