January 8, 1999
All five starters scored in double figures as Kentucky defeated Vanderbilt,70-69, for the first time in nine tries. UK had not defeated Vandy sincewinning 80-63 on Jan. 20, 1991 in Memorial Coliseum.
The Wildcats (11-3, 2-1) jumped out to their biggest lead, 34-22, on two ofjunior Shantia Owens’ 11 points. The Commodores (7-7, 1-2) battled back,however, to trail by only two points (36-34) at the half. UK shot 53.6percent from the floor, hitting 4-of-5 from the three-point line the firsthalf. VU was limited to only one three-pointer in the entire game due toUK’s pressure defense.
“I was pleased with how we stayed with our scouting report tonight,” UKCoach Bernadette Mattox said. “We defended their three-pointers and wedidn’t have to go into a zone defense.”
Vanderbilt had to look to its inside game in the second half, which almostproved costly for the Wildcats. The ‘Dores tied the game four times in thelast seven minutes due to the solid play of freshman forward ZuzanaKlimesova. She netted four straight free throws with five minutesremaining, scoring a career-high 19 points for the ‘Dores. UK guard EricaJackson would later respond with one of her three three-pointers with 3:50left to tie the game at 63. Forward Jaye Barnes would go on to nail threestraight free throws in the final minutes to give the Cats the victory.
“The coaches and all of my teammates have been trying to help me inpractice with my free throw shooting,” Barnes said. “They were telling metonight to take my time, bend my knees and put arch on the ball. I knew Ihad to hit these free throws for them.”
Jackson led Kentucky in scoring with 17 points while Barnes followed with15. Also scoring in double digits was Laura Meadows, who hit 5-of-7 fromthe field and was 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Owens and Tiffany Wait bothadded 11 points apiece. This marks the second time this season all fivestarters have scored in double figures. Five UK starters also scored indouble figures in the 92-84 overtime win versus Ohio State on Nov. 19.
UK will face Ole Miss on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 3 p.m. The game will betelevised live on Fox Sports South. The Cats will then travel to LSU onJan. 14, No. 2 Tennessee on Jan. 17 and Louisville on Jan. 20. UK does notreturn home until Jan. 24 when they face 18th-ranked Alabama.
