Dec. 15, 2002
Honolulu, Hawai’i –
Freshmen Jenny Pfeiffer and Jennifer Humphrey each recorded career highs as the Kentucky women’s basketball team defeated Long Island 72-64 for third place in the Hawaii Invitational Sunday afternoon. With her career performance, Pfeiffer tied Tedra Eberhart for the school record for most three-pointers made in a game with six. UK hit a season-high eight three-pointers in the game.
The Wildcats (3-4) again saw themselves trailing at the half (33-31), but this time they would come out fighting to take the lead just seconds into the second stanza. Pfeiffer hit one of her six three-pointers to give UK the 34-33 advantage. The Cats extended their lead throughout the half, taking an eight-point advantage with 5:24 remaining on a pair of free throws from SeSe Helm. UK held on down the stretch, making five of six free throws in the final 1:08 to give the Cats the 72-64 victory.
The Cats were led by Pfeiffer’s 24 points. She was joined in double figures by Humphrey, who tallied 19 points and a game-high nine boards in her first career start.
“Jennifer Humphrey came to play today,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “I was very pleased with how our team rallied and really played together. We are a very good basketball team when we play like a unit. There are still many things to improve on, but I thought we really came together today.”
It was raining “threes” in the first half as Long Island jumped out to a 26-16 lead, hitting 8-of-16 from behind the arc. The Cats didn’t falter, responding late in the first half, nailing 4-of-8 from treyville.
UK trailed by as many as 10 points on several occasions before Pfeiffer again sparked the Cats, draining three consecutive treys and a pair of free throws to pull the Cats within two, 29-31. Pfeiffer ended the half as the leading scorer for the Cats with 11, while fellow freshman Humphrey contributed nine.
UK outrebounded Long Island by an overwhelming 42-29 margin and ended the game shooting 41.1 percent compared to the Blackbirds’ 35.6 percent from the floor. UK shot 44.4 percent from behind the arc.
The Blackbirds (0-7) were led by Amber Wirth’s 21, followed by Tamika Dudley’s 17 and 14 from Jessica Brookes.
The Cats will return to Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, Dec. 21 when they play host to Miami University at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be the first of four straight home contests for the Cats.
