Feb. 5, 2003
After a near-upset of No. 16 South Carolina on Sunday in Lexington, the Kentucky women’s basketball squad looks to capture their first road win when they travel to Auburn, Ala., on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. ET to face the Auburn Tigers in Beard-Eaves Memorial-Coliseum. WLXG Sports Radio 1300 will broadcast the game live with announcer Chris Cross.
The Wildcats (9-9, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) have struggled on the treacherous conference road this season. UK is 0-7 overall, 0-3 in the league on opponent’s home floors. Auburn is 12-2 overall when playing in its Coliseum, 2-2 in conference play. The Tigers’ only losses at home came against nationally-ranked LSU and most recently, Vanderbilt. AU fell to the Commodores by just one point, 67-66.
“Every game in SEC play is a battle, most certainly when you are on the road,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “It’s important for us to focus on our game plan and not get down on ourselves when things don’t go our way.”
Games between Auburn and Kentucky have been barn-burners in the past few years. In seven of the last eight meetings, the game has been decided by six points or less. UK owns a 4-3 advantage in those contests. UK’s four wins were by an average of 3.5 points. Auburn won its three games by a 2.0 margin.
Thursday’s game is the 27th matchup between the schools in the all-time series. Auburn owns a 17-9 advantage, including a 6-4 lead when playing in Auburn. UK’s last win in Auburn was a 68-62 win in 1998.
Kentucky has four players averaging in double-digit scoring this season. Rita Adams leads with 13.8 points per game and Sara Potts follows with 11.8. SeSe Helm and Jennifer Humphrey are averaging 10.8 and 10.3 ppg, respectively. Helm is UK’s leading rebounder, grabbing 7.0 boards a game. Potts currently ranks 13th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage. The sharp shooting sophomore has hit 43-of-95 from behind the arc for 45.3 percent. With the help of Potts and also the long range shooting from Adams, Kristen Grassi and Danyelle Payne, the Cats rank 11th nationally in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 39.8 percent from treyville. UK is second overall in the SEC behind Tennessee’s 41.9 percent.
Auburn has won three of its last five games, including a 61-48 victory over Ole Miss on Sunday. The Tigers also have defeated Alabama and Arkansas in conference play.
The Tigers are not ranked but are receiving votes in both The Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. They are led in scoring by freshman Natasha Brackett with 16.0 points per game. She is the only player to average in double-digit scoring.
The Wildcats will return to Lexington to play host to Vanderbilt in a rematch game on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. ET.
