Kentucky Women’s Basketball Postgame Notes
FINAL: Ole Miss 73, #9/9 Kentucky 65
The Pavilion at Ole Miss – Oxford, Miss.
Jan. 21, 2016
Team Records and Series Notes
? UK lost a road matchup to Ole Miss, 73-65, the second road loss to the Rebels in as many years.
? With the setback, UK moves to 14-3 on the season, and 3-3 in Southeastern Conference play.
? The meeting was the 38th between the two programs in the all-time series, with the loss moving UK to 16-22 in the all-time series.
? Matthew Mitchell is in his ninth season with Kentucky and the loss moves him to 238-113 overall, including a 208-84 record while at Kentucky.
Team Notes
? The loss marks the second time this season that UK was defeated by an unranked opponent while ranked on the road. The last time it happened was the 66-61 loss to Auburn on Jan. 3.
? UK led for a total of :33 in the first half.
? UK shot 47.1% from the field on 24-of-51 shooting, which is the highest percentage from the field for the team since entering SEC play, while the Rebels shot 41.2% on 28-of-68 shooting.
? Though UK outrebounded the Rebels, 36-33, and had a 34-32 advantage in the paint, Ole Miss forced 21 turnovers and converted them into 22 points. Ole Miss also outscored the Wildcats in second-chance points, 18-11.
? The Wildcats trailed, 23-18, at the end of the first period. In that time, no Wildcat scored more than two points other than Maci Morris, who posted 10 points in the opening 10 minutes.
? Kentucky assisted on six of the seven made shots in the opening period and shot 58.3%, but was overpowered by Ole Miss going 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
? UK continued to trail throughout the entire second period, with Ole Miss holding a 35-31 edge at the half.
? The two teams were fairly evenly matched statistically in points in paint (10-10), turnovers (10-8), rebounds (18-19) and assists (8-9), but the Rebels were able to gain their lead courtesy of six made 3-pointers in the opening half of action.
? In the fourth period, UK trailed by as much as 12, 59-47, but used an 8-0 run from Janee Thompson and Makayla Epps to bring the score to 59-55.
Individual Notes
? Makayla Epps led the Wildcats with 22 points to go with six assists.
o Epps had the best performance of her career from the free throw line, going a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe. She become just the 11th player in UK history to have a flawless free throw effort with at least 10 attempts, becoming the first player since Bria Goss went 10-of-10 against Missouri on Jan. 12, 2014, to accomplish the feat.
? Evelyn Akhator added 13 points with five rebounds.
? Maci Morris chipped in 10 points, with all of her points coming in the first period.
? Alexis Jennings led the Wildcats in rebounding, pulling down nine boards, eight of which were defensive.