The Kentucky women?s basketball team opens its 2004-05 season with the first of two exhibition games. The Wildcats begin with the Ohio Legends Thursday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum. The game will be open to the public with no charge for admission. Free UK Hoops posters and schedule cards will be given away.
UK returns six letter winners, including two starters from last year?s squad in pre-season All-SEC selection Sara Potts and point guard Angela Phillips. Entering her senior season, Potts, a native of Rochester Hills, Mich., holds almost every school record in the three-point category, including the record for most treys in a career (190), game (7) and season (74). Phillips, a sophomore from Oak Ridge, Tenn., started in 21 games in her rookie season, including all 14 SEC contests. She averaged 6.0 points and 4.3 assists per game. The Cats also boast the nation?s sixth-ranked recruiting class in freshmen Eleia Roddy (Columbus, Ohio), Sarah Elliott (McKee), Samantha Mahoney (Detroit, Mich.), Chante? Bowman (Detroit, Mich.), and Sade Buley (Knoxville, Tenn.). Lexington native Nastassia Alcius also will see her first action since transferring from Dayton in 2003.
?We?re ready to play somebody different,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?We have practice guys that come in and we beat up on each other and then we beat up on the practice guys. So, we?re ready to play somebody different. I think it just exposes so many areas that we need to work on. I was telling them the other day that we?re a pretty good drill team right now. We?ve got these drills down pretty good, but when we apply them to a game situation there?s some slippage. We are excited to get the season started?
The Ohio Legends are sponsored by the Ohio Girls Basketball Report and have a 12-person roster comprised of former collegiate players who hail from the Buckeye State. The roster features former Kentucky guard Racquel Ellis (2002-04), who makes her return to Memorial Coliseum after completing her senior season last year. Ellis played in 27 games last season with seven starts.
Kentucky concludes its exhibition schedule on Thursday, Nov. 11, when it plays host to the West Coast All-Stars at 7 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum. UK tips off its 31st varsity season of women?s basketball vs. Butler in the regular-season opener on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. ET.
A link for live stats for the game against Ohio Legends will be available on the front page of ukathletics.com.
