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SeSe Helm Named Most Valuable Player after charting a combined 49 points and 20 rebounds in the two-day event. Keiko Tate also was named to the All-Tournament team.
Senior center SeSe Helm charted her 10th career and second season double-double, with 23 points and 11 rebounds but it wouldn?t be enough as the Kentucky women?s basketball team fell to host San Francisco 67-59 in the championship game of the Odwalla Classic Championship on Saturday night.
Helm was named the tournament?s Most Valuable Player after charting 49 points and 20 rebounds in the two-day event. She had 26 points and nine boards vs. Duquesne in the first round and 23 points and 11 boards vs. USF. Keiko Tate provided a spark off the bench for the Cats, adding 12 points vs. the Lady Dons and eight points vs. the Dukes in the first round. She was named to the All-Tournament team. It was Helm?s third career all-tournament team honor and the first for Tate.
After five ties and six lead changes in the first half, the teams went into the locker room at the break knotted at 34 apiece. Kentucky (3-2) shot an impressive 63.6 percent but had not yet attempted a three-pointer. The Lady Dons posted 59.1 percent in the opening stanza and were 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
The second half looked to be more of the same after two more ties and two lead changes. San Francisco (3-2) then bolted out on an 8-2 run with five minutes left to pull ahead 58-50. The Lady Dons would not trail again, building their biggest lead at 66-57 with 54 seconds to go. USF point guard Toni Russell was the Cats? catalyst, charting a career-high 18 points, 16 coming in the second half. Russell was averaging just 7.0 points per game entering the contest. USF forward Carey Sauer also poured in 18 points in the game on 6-of-13 shooting, 3-of-4 from three-point land. UK turnovers plagued the Cats the entire contest with 20 total.
?It?s disappointing,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?Turnovers hurt us and they did a great job of isolating Sara Potts. She couldn?t get a shot off. We had no outside game tonight. I?m proud of the way we battled but we have to take care of the basketball.?
Kentucky shot 51.0 percent from the field on 25-of-49 shooting. UK went 0 for 2 from the three-point line in the game, marking the first time since March 2, 2003 vs. Tennessee UK had not hit a trey. The Lady Dons finished 24-of-42 for 57.1 percent, including 7-of-10 (70.0) from the three-point line. USF also hit 12-of-18 from the charity stripe compared to UK?s 9-of-15.
Shambrica Jones scored 11 points for the Wildcats while Potts added six. Senior point guard Racquel Ellis had five points and a career-high six assists with only one turnover. The Cats outrebounded USF 28-21.
Helm now has 1,199 career points, jumping three spots to No. 11 on UK?s all-time scoring list. She needs 17 points to move ahead of Stacy McIntyre (1988-92) at No. 10 with 1,215 points.
UK is now 74-32 in regular-season tournaments. Next up for the Cats is intrastate rival Louisville on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in Rupp Arena.
All-Tournament Team:
SeSe Helm ? Kentucky, MVP
Keiko Tate – Kentucky
Carey Sauer ? San Francisco
Toni Russell ? San Francisco
Ashley Hallstead – Davidson
