Meadows leads Cats with 14 points in 77-63 loss.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (January 3, 1999 ) — Kentucky leading scorerJaye Barnes was held to only two points as No.20 Florida defeated UK, 77-63, in Lexington onSunday. The Wildcats (10-3, 1-1) dropped theirfirst Southeastern Conference matchup of theseason despite three UK players scoring in doubledigits.
Sophomore Laura Meadows led the Cats for the second straight game,charting 14 points and three assists. Juniors Tiffany Wait and Shantia Owensadded 13 and 12 points respectively. Owens led Kentucky in reboundingwith seven.
“I know we can play much better than we did today,” Coach BernadetteMattox said. “Offensively, I felt we didn’t execute and we rushed our shots.Defensively, we played well early on, but dropped our intensity. Ourschedule doesn’t get any easier so I hope our team can take this game as alearning opportunity.”
Kentucky took an 11-6 lead early in the game, but quickly saw its leaddisappear as Florida’s inside game came alive. Florida leading scorer TonyaWashington came off the bench to score 13 points in 16 minutes in the firsthalf to give the Lady Gators a 42-31 halftime lead. Washington, who holdsthe national high school scoring record with 4,389 points at Paxton (Fla.)High School, ended the game tying her career-high 26 points, marking herfourth 20-plus performance of the season. Center Tamara Stocks hit7-of-11 from the paint for 14 points while guards Brandi McCain andTalatha Bingham combined for 22 Florida points.
Florida (12-4, 2-0) outrebounded Kentucky 42-38 and forced 22turnovers. The Cats never led in the second half, but came within eight points(51-43) with 12:45 remaining in the game.
“Any time you can go on the road and win a game in this conference, it’s agood thing,” UF Coach Carol Ross said. “This is the best UK team I’vefaced as a coach and I think they’ll do some good things in this conference.”Kentucky will play host to its last home game until Jan. 24 when it facesVanderbilt on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. The first 150 fans under 12 yearsold will receive free Beanie Babies.
Admission is only $10 for families of four or more.
