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New head coach Mickie DeMoss earns first victory at UK
Lexington, Ky. – The Mickie DeMoss era of Kentucky women’s basketball officially began on Sunday, Nov. 2, when the Wildcats took a thrilling 73-64 victory over Athletes in Action in Memorial Coliseum. The win marked the first for DeMoss at UK and an exhibition record of 1,012 fans witnessed the defeat.
UK’s front court dominated the scoring column as senior Shambrica Jones scored 17 points, sophomore Jennifer Humphrey charted a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds and senior SeSe Helm added 12 points.
Despite a slow start and trailing by as many as ten points, the Cats began to rally at the close of the first half behind great defensive play and rebounding. Jones and freshman point guard Angela Phillips sparked the late charge to get UK within two, 32-30, at the break.
“I think we all had to get settled down early on,” DeMoss said. “Even I had some jitters in the first five or six minutes, as did the team, but then we got settled in. I’m glad to get that first one under my belt.
Intensity and defensive pressure have been the focus for the team and the Cats came out on fire in the second half. UK held AIA to just 25 percent shooting from the field after it scorched the nets with 48.1 percent shooting in the first half.
“We kept fighting and didn’t hang our heads,” DeMoss said. “That’s something we’ve talked about in practice ? things will go wrong and we’ll face adversity, but the game is 40 minutes long and we’ll have to fight, which we did. I learned that we have to be more disciplined, especially in our offense. We’re not very comfortable in our sets yet.”
UK shot 53.3 percent in the second stanza and built a 64-54 cushion with 2:41 remaining in the game. Helm, who scored 10 of her 12 points after halftime, and Jenny Pfeiffer, combined for 17 of UK’s second-half points. AIA started to close the gap, pulling within six, 70-64, in the final minute of play but the Cats made 3-of-5 free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.
“Playing in our first game with the new coaching staff was great,” Jones said. “We’re still trying to learn our new offensive sets. We have some great guards on this team and they’re going to get us the ball in the post. We’re going to be able to produce more offense, we just need to keep practicing hard.”
Phillips, playing in her first collegiate game, poured in nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, including 2-of-2 from behind the arc. She also dished out six assists and grabbed two steals. Pfeiffer and Sara Potts also added nine points each.
“Angela brings a lot of intangibles to the game,” DeMoss said. “She’s a leader vocally and I’m pleased with the way she made things happen today.”
The Cats also were impressive on the boards, outrebounding AIA, 46-35. UK tacked on 17 offensive boards, while Humphrey brought down a would-be career-high 14 boards.
AIA was led by Katie Voigt (Wisconsin, ’98), Chantel Mize (Texas Lutheran, ’00) and Tasha Pointer (Rutgers, ’01) with 18, 11 and 10 points, respectively.
“I thought we were playing against a pretty good team today,” DeMoss said. “We’ve only been practicing together as a team for two weeks, so I thought we were a little shaky early. I’m proud that we did the things that we’ve been focusing on.”
UK returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 15, when it faces Premier Players at Memorial Coliseum in their final exhibition game before the regular season. Admission is free and tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EST.
