Nov. 13, 1999

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team won itssecond and final exhibition game on Saturday, defeating Premier Players,99-78, in Memorial Coliseum.

The Wildcats forced 27 second-half turnovers, wearing down thePremier Players with solid defense play. Carolyn Alexander and RitaAdams fueled the transition game with four steals apiece that helped theCats along the way towards 45 points off 33 Premier turnovers.

“We’ve been concentrating on our defense in practice a lotmore,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “We don’t usually play zonedefense, we play man-to-man, but it worked well tonight. Our playersreally dug in the second half and I have to give our kids a lot ofcredit.”

The Premier All Stars, 3-4 in its 10-game schedule, battled theCats throughout the first half, trailing only 50-48 at the half. UK’sfull court press and pressure defense would prove too much for thethin-benched Premier Players as the Cats took at 26-point lead with twominutes remaining. A 34-8 advantage for the Cats in bench scoring helpedspur the Cats second-half charge.

Sophomore forward LaTonya McDole led the Cats for the secondstraight game, scoring 21 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Juniorforward Laura Meadows also looked impressive, charting her firstdouble-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.Former Ohio State player Larecha Jones led Premier with 17 points.

Kentucky will begin regular season action on Friday, Nov. 29when it travels to Clarksville, Tenn., to face Austin Peay at 8 p.m.