Women’s basketball forces 33 turnovers in lopsided victory.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 13, 1999) — The University of Kentuckywomen’s basketball team won its second and finalexhibition game on Saturday, defeating PremierPlayers, 99-78, in Memorial Coliseum.

The Wildcats forced 27 second-half turnovers,wearing down the Premier Players with soliddefense play. Carolyn Alexander and Rita Adamsfueled the transition game with four steals apiecethat helped the Cats along the way towards 45points off 33 Premier turnovers.

“We’ve been concentrating on our defense inpractice a lot more,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattoxsaid. “We don’t usually play zone defense, we playman-to-man, but it worked well tonight. Ourplayers really dug in the second half and I have togive our kids a lot of credit.”

The Premier All Stars, 3-4 in its 10-game schedule,battled the Cats throughout the first half, trailing only50-48 at the half. UK’s full court press andpressure defense would prove too much for thethin-benched Premier Players as the Cats took at26-point lead with two minutes remaining. A 34-8advantage for the Cats in bench scoring helped spurthe Cats second-half charge.

Sophomore forward LaTonya McDole led the Catsfor the second straight game, scoring 21 points andgrabbing seven rebounds. Junior forward LauraMeadows also looked impressive, charting her firstdouble-double of the season with 15 points and agame-high 17 rebounds. Former Ohio State playerLarecha Jones led Premier with 17 points.

Kentucky will begin regular season action on Friday, Nov. 29 when it travelsto Clarksville, Tenn., to face Austin Peay at 8 p.m.