– Player Diary
The Kentucky women?s basketball team will play its fourth game in eight days when it meets Atlantic 10 opponent Duquesne in the first round of the odwalla Classic in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 28 at 9 p.m. ET. Possible opponents San Francisco and Davidson meet in the second game at 11 p.m. ET. The game will be carried live on WLXG Sports Radio 1300 with Chris Cross.
The tournament marks Kentucky?s first trip to the Bay Area and its first road contest this season.
?We are excited about traveling to San Francisco,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?We felt like we didn?t play up to our potential in our last game and I think the team is ready to get back on the court. The competition in this tournament is tough and we?ll have to shoot better than we did against North Carolina. Hopefully we?ll get out to a better start and come home with a couple of victories.?
All four tournament teams are looking to get back on the winning track after dropping their last game on Tuesday. Host San Francisco fell to No. 7 Stanford 75-50, Davidson lost to Charlotte 77-70 and Duquesne lost at Toledo 81-57. In UK?s last game, the Wildcats (2-1) fell to No. 14/13 North Carolina at Rupp Arena after missing their first 14 shots. The Cats shot a mere 31.4 percent from the floor, including only 27.3 percent in the first half. The crowd of 6,223 marked the largest home crowd for a UK women?s basketball game since last season when 6,308 fans watched UK and Tennessee on March 2, 2003.
UK is 73-31 in regular-season tournaments with 24 tournament titles. UK has won at least one tournament title in three of the past six years.
The Cats are 1-0 in the all-time series vs. Duquesne (2-1). The teams first met in Lexington, Ky., on Nov. 24, 1990. UK defeated the Dukes 101-56. UK has never met San Francisco or Davidson.
Senior Candace Futrell leads the Dukes in scoring with 20.3 points per game. She also is averaging 7.3 rebounds a game. Starter Shiri Sharon is the second-leading scorer with a 7.7 ppg average.
Senior SeSe Helm and junior Sara Potts are the Cats? leading scorers and rebounders. Helm is averaging 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds while Potts has 16.0 ppg and 6.3 rpg. Senior Shambrica Jones also is pulling down 6.3 rpg while averaging 9.3 ppg.
Note: The Cats will do some sightseeing while in California. On the Cats? agenda for Thanksgiving weekend is a tour of Fisherman?s Wharf, Alcatraz and the city of San Francisco. Follow the Cats activities throughout the weekend as senior Shambrica Jones writes a daily diary called ?Sittin? With Shambrica? on ukathletics.com.
