January 29, 1999
GAINESVILLE, Fla.– The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team defeated Florida, 80-70, on Thursday, defeating the Gators for the first time since 1995. The win also marked the Cats’ first win in nine years (1990) against UF in Gainesville.
The Wildcats (14-6, 4-4) led by as many as 16 points with 12 minutes left on the clock before UF (14-9, 3-5) battled back within five points (71-66) with two minutes left in the game. UK’s Laura Meadows hit three of her game-high four three-pointers in the second half to pull the Cats ahead for good.
Meadows led all five UK starters in double figures with a season-high 18 points. Erica Jackson and Tiffany Wait both added 13 points and LaTonya McDole and Shantia Owens followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
“Any time you can grab a win on the road in this conference, it’s big,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “I felt we had a great team effort tonight and I was very pleased with our rebounding and our defense.” UK outrebounded the Lady Gators 42-37 despite being outrebounded in the first half 26-22.
The Cats led 33-23 at the half, shooting 15 of 35 (42.9 percent) from the floor. The Lady Gators were without the help of leading scorer Tonya Washington who is out for three weeks with a knee injury. UF shot a season-low 24.3 percent, hitting only nine field goals. Jackson led all UK scorers at the half with nine points while Owens added six. Florida was led in scoring by Brandi McCain’s 22 points. Also scoring in double figures was Tiffany Travis with 18, Tamara Stocks with 12 and Tombi Bell with 10 points.
The Lady Gators defeated Kentucky earlier this season, 77-63, in Memorial Coliseum. UF, who dropped its third straight conference game and fourth straight game at home, leads the series over the Cats 15-13 and 6-5 in Florida.
Kentucky will meet Arkansas on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m. before playing host to No. 17 Auburn on Feb. 4 at 7 p.m.
