Jan. 17, 2003

Lexington, Ky. – Kentucky looks for its first win in the Music City in eight tries when the Wildcats travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on No. 14 Vanderbilt on Sunday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. ET at Memorial Gym. WLXG Sports Radio 1300 with Chris Cross will carry the game live.

The Commodores have won four straight over the Wildcats, including both meetings last season. Kentucky is on an eight-game losing skid to the Commodores in Nashville with its last win coming on Feb. 5, 1986 (79-70).

Both teams are looking to get back on the winning track this season. Kentucky (8-6, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) fell to No. 2-ranked LSU on Thursday and Vanderbilt (10-5, 0-2 SEC) has dropped its last two league games versus Mississippi State and South Carolina.

“Vanderbilt is a very good team with a lot of weapons,” UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. “They have senior leadership from Chantelle Anderson and Jenni Benningfield is playing very well right now. They also have a great point guard in Ashley McElhiney. We can’t turn the ball over like we did at LSU. I look for this to be an exciting game.”

UK ranks second in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 40.0 percent from long range. Vandy is third in the league with 38.7 percent. Leading the scoring efforts for the Cats this season is senior Rita Adams who averages 13.9 points per game. Long range gunner Sara Potts follows in the scoring column with 11.5 ppg. Jenny Pfeiffer and SeSe Helm round out the double-digit averages with 10.8 and 10.5 ppg, respectively. Helm also is the Cats’ leading rebounder with 6.6 rpg.

Anderson leads the ‘Dores with 17.8 ppg while Benningfield, a native of Louisville, is dropping in 14.9 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game. Former Xavier coach Melanie Balcomb is in her first season as head coach at Vanderbilt. She was 2-0 against the Cats while coaching at Xavier.

UK returns home on Thursday, Jan. 23 when it plays host to Ole Miss at 7 p.m. ET.