Dec. 28, 1999
LEXINGTON, Kty. — Six Wildcats scored in double figures and sophomore forwardLaTonya McDole charted her second straight double-double, recording acareer-high 22 points and 14 rebounds, to lead Kentucky pastTennessee-Martin 93-55 in Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky (7-3) dominated the entire game, jumping to a 9-2 leadto start the first half. McDole sparked the Cats, scoring 20 of her 22points in the first 20 minutes. Senior guard Tiffany Wait was also litup the nets, tallying nine of her 10 points in the first half. In the second half, UK took its biggest lead (88-44) with six minutesremaining in the game before the Skyhawks held the Cats scoreless foralmost five minutes. UK’s scoring slump soon ended and the Cats builtthe lead again to +40.
McDole also recorded a career-tying six steals and 10 of hercareer-high 14 rebounds were on the offensive boards. Junior forwardLaura Meadows followed in the scoring column with 20 points while seniorguard Erica Jackson netted 13. Also recording her second straightdouble-double was senior center Shantia Owens. She charted 10 pointsand 10 rebounds in the Cats’ effort while sophomore forward TaneshaSeaton and senior guard Tiffany Wait also scored 10 points apiece.
“I am very pleased with how we performed tonight,” UK CoachBernadette Mattox said. “We knew UT-Martin was a good team and thatthey would challenge us. But we had to challenge ourselves tonight tomake our defense turn into points.”
The Wildcats’ defense forced 37 Skyhawk turnovers, turning theminto 55 UK points. Kentucky dominated the inside game, outreboundingMartin 46-31 and scoring 50 points in the paint compared to theSkyhawks’ 24 points.
“Kentucky has a really good basketball team,” Tennessee-Martinco-head coach Gary Van Atta said. “They have a lot of weapons and are asenior-laden team. We just didn’t have any answers for them. We wereable to make a few runs here and there. Then all of a sudden they stepit up again and that makes it tough on our basketball team.”
UT-Martin (2-8) was led by senior center Zabrina Harris with 21points and six rebounds. Center Chasity Bohannan followed with eightpoints and six boards.
UK is 3-0 all-time versus UT-Martin and has won the last twomeetings. The Cats now own a four-game win streak in Memorial Coliseum.Tonight’s game was Kentucky’s first home game since Dec. 1 when itdefeated in-state rival Western Kentucky. UK will play host to threemore home games before traveling again, beginning with Xavier on Friday,Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.
