Seaton scores career-high 20 for Cats in 94-39 victory.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 3, 2000) — The University of Kentuckywomen’s basketball team used aggressive defenseand a tenacious transition game to defeat Winthrop94-39 in Memorial Coliseum. Sophomore forwardTanesha Seaton recorded a career-high 20 pointsoff the bench and added three blocks to lead fiveWildcats in double figures.
The Cats (8-4), bouncing back from a one-pointloss to Xavier on Friday, came out aggressive early,jumping to a 22-4 lead with 12 minutes to go in thefirst half. Winthrop (3-8) managed only seven fieldgoals in the first half as UK jumped out to a26-point halftime lead.
UK scored 45 points off Winthrop’s turnovers andnetted 56 points in the paint compared to the LadyEagles’ 12 points. The Cats used a balancedscoring attack as all 12 players scored with 44points coming from bench-play.
“We needed to score more in transition and we didthat tonight,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said.”A strong transition game is something allchampions have. We started that last year and weare getting back to that style of play now. That upand down style is Kentucky basketball.”
Seaton led all scorers with 20 points while seniorTiffany Wait added a season-high 13 points.Sophomore LaTonya McDole charted her fourthconsecutive game in double-figure scoring with 12points. Senior Erica Jackson also added 12 pointsfor her sixth double-figure game out of the lastseven. Junior forward Laura Meadows rounded outthe scoring leaders with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Seniorcenter Shantia Owens recorded her fourth consecutive game withdouble-figure rebounding, leading all players with 10 boards. She also tiedher career-high in blocks with five.
“Kentucky played very good defense and they took us out of our game plan.We didn’t have the ability to make it close,” Winthrop Coach Robin Mullersaid. “Their defense is much more aggressive and physical. They had a lot ofhands on the ball.”
UK held Winthrop to a season-low 22.7 percent from the floor, allowingonly three field goals in the second half. The Cats also outrebounded theEagles 45-31 and recorded a team-high 11 blocks.
Kentucky begins Southeastern Conference play on Thursday, Jan. 6 when itfaces No. 5 Auburn at 7 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum. UK looks to avenge aone-point loss (68-67) at the buzzer last season by the Tigers in MemorialColiseum. The Cats are 8-15 all-time versus Auburn.
“It’s a new season now,” Mattox said. “All the games we have played thusfar have been to get ready for the SEC season. It’s time for the meat of theschedule.”
