– Kentucky is entering its 43rd season of varsity women’s basketball, sitting 761-504 (.601) all time. 

– Matthew Mitchell is entering his 10th season with Kentucky. Mitchell is 249-118 overall as a head coach and 219-89 during his tenure at Kentucky. 

– Kentucky is 125-19 all-time in Memorial Coliseum under Mitchell. 

– UK has advanced to a school record seven straight NCAA Tournaments and has 20 or more wins seven straight seasons. 

– The Wildcats enter the season ranked No. 19 in both the USA Today/Coaches’ Preseason Top 25 and The Associated Press Top 25. The high ranking marks the seventh straight season UK has ranked inside the top 20 in both listings. 

– Tonight’s attendance was 1,339

– Kentucky will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 11 vs. No. 14 Miami (Fla.) at 7 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network+ and on the UK Sports Radio Network in Lexington on 630AM WLAP. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com or by calling the UK Ticket Office. 

 

– Kentucky opened the game with an 11-0 run, including back-to-back 3s by Makayla Epps forcing a Union timeout. The Bulldogs came back with back-to-back 3s to stop Kentucky’s momentum, but UK followed with a 9-0 run to take back control of the game. 

– In the first half alone, Kentucky hit eight 3-pointers, something the Wildcats only accomplished in four games last year let alone in a half. UK’s season high for 3s last year was 11 against Colorado on Nov. 22, 2015.

        o The Wildcats ended the game 10-for-24 from 3. 

– Three Wildcats saw their first action in Blue and White in the exhibition in senior transfer Jessica Hardin and freshman guards Jaida Roper and Paige Poffenberger. 

– UK out-rebounded the Lady Bulldogs, 50-25, as junior forward Alyssa Rice and senior post Evelyn Akhator combined for 27 boards alone. Last season, the Wildcats only posted 50 or more rebounds four times.

        o UK turned that rebounding margin into 28 second-chance points, while only allowing Union five second-chance points. 

– The Wildcats committed only eight turnovers in the game, and scored 17 points off turnovers. 

        o The Wildcats also had eight fast-break points, while Union had none. 

– Kentucky looked strong defensively, forcing two shot clock violations in the contest.

– Three Kentucky players finished the game in double-figure scoring, as Epps posted 31, Akhator 17 and Makenzie Cann 10.

 

– Makayla Epps paced all scorers with 31 points. She also added five rebounds and four assists.

        o Epps had 17 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, going 6-of-7 from the field, including 4-of-4 from 3 in the first quarter. 

        o Epps ended the first half with 22 points. 

        o Although her career-high is 42 points, her 31 points tonight tops any total she put up throughout her junior season. Her highest scoring game in 2015-16 came in the final game of the year when she put up 30 points against Washington in the NCAA Tournament.

– Taylor Murray posted four points, seven assists and four rebounds in the win.  

        o All seven of her assists came in the first half, which would have been a career-total for a game. 

– Evelyn Akhator ended the game with 17 points and 17 rebounds for a double-double. 

        o Akhator recorded 13 double-doubles last season, which were the most by a player in the Matthew Mitchell era. 

        o Her 13 career double-doubles are the 12th most by a player in program history. 

– Makenzie Cann ended the game with 10 points, hitting 3-of-5 from 3. 

        o Cann sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules after transferring from Cincinnati. 

        o In her freshman season at Cincinnati, she posted nine double-digit scoring performances.

– Alyssa Rice brought in 10 rebounds to go along with five points in the outing.

        o Her 10 boards would qualify as a career high for the junior, as her nine rebounds vs. Florida (3/4/16) is her current record.