Dec. 3, 2002
Lexington, Ky. –
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Fresh off the plane from Seattle, the Kentucky women’s basketball team looks to get back on the winning track when it travels to Evansville, Ind., to take on the Purple Aces on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. ET at Roberts Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on WLXG Sports Radio 1300 with announcer Chris Cross.
The Wildcats (2-1) look to rebound after falling to Washington in the championship game of the Seattle Times Husky Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. The Cats also look to avenge a 78-72 loss to the Purple Aces from last year in Lexington. Despite SeSe Helm’s 26 points and 13 rebounds, the Wildcats couldn’t overcome Evansville’s shooting at the charity stripe. The Purple Aces connected on 20-of-32 from the free throw line compared to UK’s 6-of-13.
“Evansville always has a solid team and we have to be ready to play on the road and in a hostile environment,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “We got some things corrected in practice this week and hopefully we learned from the mistakes made in Seattle.”
Wednesday’s game marks Kentucky’s first trip to Evansville, Ind. The game is Kentucky’s second against a team from the Missouri Valley Conference. The Cats defeated MVC member Southern Illinois in their season-opener 79-53.
Sophomore Sara Potts is the Cats’ leading scorer, averaging 16.0 ppg. Junior Shambrica Jones, who posted a career-high 21 points against Washington, follows Potts in the scoring column with 12.3 ppg. Jones’ 7.7 rebounds per game leads UK and ranks ninth in the Southeastern Conference. Senior Rita Adams, who led the SEC in steals last season, is averaging 3.7 steals a game this season for No. 2 in the SEC. Her 6.7 assists per game is No. 3.
Evansville is 1-2 after defeating Louisville and falling to Austin Peay and IUPUI. The Purple Aces return two starters from a squad that finished 15-15 overall, 9-9 (4th) in the MVC last season. Jamie Gray leads Evansville in scoring, averaging 18.0 points a game. She is also the team’s leading rebounder, pulling down 9.0 boards per game. Against Kentucky last year, Gray dropped one of her two double-doubles of the season on the Wildcats with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cats will return home on Saturday, Dec. 7 when they play host to intrastate rival Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum.
