Women’s hoops bids farewell to five seniors in final home game of the season.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 27, 2000) — Kentucky bid farewell tofive seniors on Sunday in a 63-46 loss toMississippi State in Lexington. Playing their lastregular season game on the Memorial Coliseumhardwood were Tiffany Wait, Shantia Owens,Natalie Martinez, Erica Jackson and Katie Vieth.
As expected on Senior Day, the Cats came outfired up and took an 8-0 lead in less than threeminutes. However, the Bulldogs quickly regroupedafter a timeout and clawed back to claim atwo-point lead with 12:55 remaining in the first half.The Cats stayed close throughout the rest of theopening half on another stellar performance byMartinez. The 5-6 senior guard, who received herfirst season start versus Louisville and nailed acareer-high five three pointers in last week’s winover Ole Miss, connected on two three-pointerswhile Jackson dished out four assists. However, theLady Bulldogs stayed focused and took aseven-point lead into the locker room, 33-26.
Kentucky got further behind early in the second halfbut cut the Bulldog lead back to seven with 16:30left on the clock. However, they could get nocloser. Shooting 31.6 percent from the field in thesecond stanza and turning the ball over 11 timesprevented a Kentucky comeback.
“We made some shots when we had them early, butI felt like we lost confidence in our shooting late inthe game,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said.”We must now regroup, get ready for the SECTournament and go out and win that thing.”
Sophomore LaTonya McDole added 11 points andseven rebounds to the UK effort, her 16th double figure scoring game of theseason. Martinez charted 10 points for her second straight double-figureperformance. Wait, who was held to only six points in the game, started her113th consecutive and 115th of her illustrious career, a career that includes120 total games. With UK’s first game in the SEC Tournament, Wait willbreak the all-time UK record for games played with 121, a record currentlyheld by Patty Jo Hedges.
Mississippi State (20-6, 7-6) was led by the SEC’s leading scorer freshmanLaToya Thomas. She finished with 19 points while Nitra Perry added 17and Angela Harris 10.
Kentucky finished its regular season 14-13 and 5-9 in the SEC. UK, whichreceived a No. 9 seed in the SEC Tournament, will face No. 8 seedAlabama on Thursday, March 2 in the first round of the SEC Tournament inChattanooga, Tenn. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. at the UTC-Arena. Thewinner of the game will face No.1 seeded Georgia on Friday, March 3 at 1p.m.
