February 19, 1999

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team will play host to South Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. Senior forward Jaye Barnes will be honored in Senior Day ceremonies as she plays her last regular season game in Memorial Coliseum.

The Wildcats squeaked by the Lady Gamecocks just two weeks ago in Columbia,S.C., when UK guard Erica Jackson hit a jumper at the buzzer to put theCats ahead, 78-76. The Cats lead the overall series with USC 14-7 and are7-2 versus the Lady Gamecocks in Lexington.

USC enters Sunday’s game after snapping a seven-game losing streak in anon-conference game against Charleston Southern on Tuesday. The LadyGamecocks are 0-13 in the Southeastern Conference this season and 0-5 onthe road.

“Although their record doesn’t show it, this team is good and they aregoing to come in here ready to play,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “Weare going to have to be mentally and physically prepared.”With back-to-back conference wins over then-No. 8 Georgia and SouthCarolina last week, UK (17-9, 6-7 SEC) equaled its the most SEC wins in 16years. The last time UK charted six conference wins was in 1982-83 when itfinished 6-2. UK needs one more SEC win to record the most leaguevictories in school history.

UK is currently in a five-way tie for fifth place in the SEC with Florida,Alabama, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. With a win over South Carolina,coupled with a Florida win at Mississippi State, the Wildcats could finishin a tie for fifth place with Florida, their highest conference rankingsince 1990-91.

Along with Senior Day ceremonies, UK will conduct the mascot half-timebasketball game. The first 1,000 fans will receive women’s basketballtrading cards and one lucky fan will win $500 in a random drawing.