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The Kentucky women?s basketball team meets their second straight ranked opponent when they play host to No. 12/9 Georgia on Sunday, Jan. 11 at 2 p.m. ET. Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and children ages 18 and under or take advantage of the ?Family Fun for Four? special – four tickets, a Papa John?s pizza and four Pepsi drinks for just $20. UK students, faculty, and staff are admitted free with valid identification.
UK (8-6, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) looks to bounce back from an eight-point loss at No. 22 Vanderbilt on Thursday. The Commodores sank 25-of-27 free throws, including a perfect 15-of-15 in the second half for the 65-57 win. UK went 11-of-12 from the charity stripe for the game.
Georgia, picked to finish third in the SEC preseason rankings, comes to Lexington with a 12-2 overall record, 1-0 in the SEC after defeating Mississippi State in Athens on Thursday, 88-70. The Lady Bulldogs are ranked 12th in the Associated Press poll this week and ninth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. UGA?s only losses came vs. No. 6 Standford (61-59) and No. 3 Texas (71-58).
?Georgia is probably the biggest and one of the best teams we will face all year,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?They have players standing at 6-6 and 6-5 and we have to find a way to battle them on the boards. We did a good job defensively in our last game and we have to keep that defensive intensity high and continue to take care of the basketball.?
Senior center SeSe Helm paces three Wildcats in double figure scoring with 15.6 points and a team-best 6.4 boards per game. Sara Potts and Jenny Pfeiffer follow with 14.4 and 11.6 ppg, respectively. Helm has scored 1,314 points in her career and holds sole possession of No. 10 on UK?s all-time scoring list. She needs 26 points to move ahead of Belitta Croley at No. 9 (1,339).
The Lady Dogs are led by 6-6 center Kara Braxton who averages a team-high 16.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Senior Christi Thomas follows with 13.9 ppg and 8.6 boards. Coach Andy Landers enters the contest with an impressive 597-181 overall record in 25 years at Georgia. He needs three wins to reach his 600th career win.
UK and Georgia meet for the 32nd time with the Lady Bulldogs owning a 23-8 lead in the all-time series. They also hold a slight 8-6 advantage when playing in Lexington. UK?s last win over Georgia was in 1999 when UK upset the eighth-ranked Lady Dogs 80-76 in Memorial Coliseum. The last time UK defeated a team in the top 25 was vs. No. 5 Auburn on Jan. 6, 2000 in Lexington.