Dec. 15, 2001
Lexington, KY – The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team looks for its first road win of the season when it travels to Richmond, Va., on Sunday, Dec. 16 to take on Virginia Commonwealth at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be carried live on WLXG-AM Sports Radio 1300 with Chris Cross.
The Cats (3-4) hope to snap a two-game losing streak after falling to Miami, Ohio and Western Kentucky on the road last week. UK is 0-4 this season when playing on the opponents’ home floor.
“We have struggled to put two halves together on the road,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “We have got to crash the boards better this week and take care of the basketball. Now that finals are over, we have nothing to do but think about basketball.”Like Kentucky, VCU (2-5) looks to snap a two-game losing streak. The Rams fell to Richmond and Minnesota at home last week.
Two Rams average in double-figure scoring. Junior forward Kristine Austegulen, a native of Bergen, Norway, leads the way with 15.6 points per game. Senior guard Rochelle Luckett, who led the nation in steals last season with 4.3 thefts per game, follows with 11.1 points. Austegulen is also the team’s leading rebounder, pulling down 9.3 boards a game.
The Rams are coached by David Glass, in his sixth season at VCU. He led the Rams to a 15-13 record last season, 6-10 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
UK sophomore SeSe Helm charted her seventh straight game with double digits, scoring a team-high 18 points against Western Kentucky last week. Helm, who ranks seventh in the Southeastern Conference in scoring and eighth in rebounding, leads the Cats in both categories, averaging 16.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Junior guard Rita Adams leads the SEC in steals, averaging 4.43 a game, and is fourth on the assists list with 6.0 apg. She is the Cats’ second leading scorer with 11.9 ppg.
Senior forward LaTonya McDole became the 22nd member of UK’s 1,000-point club on Dec. 8 versus Western Kentucky. She has tallied 1,010 points in the four-year career and needs only 14 more points to move up two spots to No. 20.
UK meets the Rams for only the second time in school history. VCU leads the series 1-0, winning the first meeting last season in Lexington, 67-57.
