The Kentucky women?s basketball team received the No. 11 seed and is preparing to square off with sixth-seeded Vanderbilt in Thursday?s first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Game time is slated for 9:30 p.m. ET at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn. The game will be carried live on Fox Sports Net South and WLXG Sports Radio 1300 with Chris Cross.
UK (11-16, 3-11 SEC) ended the regular season winning two of its final three games. The Cats defeated Alabama and South Carolina before falling to No. 19 Georgia on Sunday, 73-62, in Athens. Despite their 3-11 record, the Cats are a much improved team this season. UK lost four conference games by nine points or less, including a one-point loss to LSU and a two-point overtime loss at Ole Miss. UK met Vanderbilt in the conference opener on Jan. 8 and fell by just eight points, 65-57.
?I think both teams have improved greatly since January,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?They have had some great wins ? they are just a solid team. We are going to have to go in there and have one of our very best efforts of the year in order to beat them.?
UK is 16-22 all-time in the SEC tournament and owns a 9-7 record in first round games. The Cats have advanced to at least the second round in three of the last five tournaments.
?There are some areas we have really gotten better in as well,? DeMoss said. ?Our offensive execution has gotten better and more efficient. We are taking care of the ball better and if I have to say one thing that has improved so much since the beginning of the year, I would have to say defense. I am starting to have confidence in the fact that we recognize ball screens and hand-offs and we know how to guard all of them. I am very proud of our defensive improvement.?
Junior Sara Potts leads three Wildcats in double-figure scoring, averaging 16.7, including 18.4 in the conference play. SeSe Helm and Jenny Pfeiffer, who is listed as doubtful for the tournament, follow with 14.3 and 11.8 ppg.
This is the 33rd meeting between Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The ?Dores lead the all-time series 20-12 and have won seven straight over the Cats, including an eight-point victory, 65-57, in regular season play. Vanderbilt owns an 11-4 advantage when the game is played in Nashville and a 2-1 lead in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Vanderbilt received the No. 6 seed after winning its final four conference games, including wins over nationally-ranked LSU (61-55) an Auburn (68-60).
Junior guard Abi Ramsey leads five Commodores in double-figure scoring with 13.9 points per game. Kentucky native Jenni Benningfield is second with 12.8 ppg and the team?s second-best rebounding with 5.8 rpg.. Hillary Hager, Ashley Earley and Carla Thomas follow in the scoring column with 11.8, 11.6 and 10.0 ppg, respectively.
The winner of Thursday?s game will meet No. 3 seed Auburn on Friday, March 5 at 9:30 pm. ET.
