Feb. 27, 2002
Lexington, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s basketball team is preparing to square off with No. 5-seed Mississippi State in Thursday’s first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. ET at the Gaylord Entertainment Center and will be carried live on Fox Sports Net South and Comcast Sports Southeast. WLXG Sports Radio 1300 with Chris Cross will also carry the game live.
UK and MSU met in regular-season action with Mississippi State escaping Lexington with a 59-54 win. UK gave No. 4 Tennessee all it could handle in the regular-season finale, leading by as many as 10 in the first half before eventually falling to the Lady Vols in Knoxville.
“This tournament is anybody’s tournament,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “This is a new beginning for us and we are excited about playing in Nashville. Mississippi State is a great team and it will be an exciting game to watch.”
The Cats (8-19, 1-3 SEC) have advanced to at least the second round of the tournament in two of the past three seasons. UK and MSU have met four times in SEC Tournament history and the series is tied at two apiece.
Sophomore SeSe Helm, who was named second team All-SEC, ranks fifth in the conference in scoring and leads Kentucky with 17.0 points per game. Junior point guard Rita Adams, who leads the league in steals per game (3.6), follows in the scoring column with 10.8 ppg. Adams also has a team- and conference-high 99 steals this season and needs only six more to break current UK assistant Leslie Nichols’ 22-year old-record of most steals in a season (104).
The Lady Bulldogs, who earned the fifth seed after upsetting nationally ranked Florida on Sunday, are led by the nation’s No. 2 scorer LaToya Thomas. The 6-2 junior scored 40 points against the Lady Gators, the second time this season she has scored 40-plus points (she scored 43 versus Georgia). She has recorded a double-double in the past two games, giving her 13 on the season. Thomas leads the SEC in scoring at 24.9 points per game and in league play she averages 27.4 points per outing, which is a full seven points ahead of the next competitor.
Mississippi State (18-10, 8-6 Southeastern Conference) is not ranked but is receiving votes in both national polls.
Former Kentucky coach Sharon Fanning enters her seventh season at the helm of the Lady Bulldogs.
The winner will meet fourth-seeded LSU on Friday, March 1 in the second round at 7 p.m. ET.
