The Kentucky women?s basketball team travels to Auburn, Ala., looking to snap a two-game losing streak in Southeastern Conference play when the Wildcats meet the Auburn Tigers Sunday, Feb. 13. Tip off is set for 3 p.m. EST in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, and the game will be carried live on WLXG 1300 AM with Chris Cross.
The Wildcats (14-10, 3-6 SEC) have dropped back-to-back contests to No. 18/19 Georgia and Florida. Freshman Samantha Mahoney has scored in double figures four of the last five games and led UK with a team-high 16 points in the loss to Florida as one of three Wildcats to tally double-figure point totals. Freshman center Sarah Elliott scored 11 points, while senior guard/forward Sara Potts added 10. The Wildcats, who had a one-point lead midway through the second half, missed five of their last six shots in the game.
?We need to come out against Auburn and play a complete 40-minute game,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?We haven?t been able to execute well down the stretch and I think our shot selection late in the game against Florida was questionable.?
Potts is leading the team in scoring with a 14.1 points per game average, which ranks ninth in the SEC. Elliott follows with a 11.3 ppg clip, while Mahoney is averaging 10.0 ppg. Junior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey is bringing down a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game, while sophomore point guard Angela Phillips is tops on the squad with 3.75 assists per game, which ranks fourth in the league.
Auburn (12-10, 3-6 SEC) is coming off of a 66-64 loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville on Thursday. Senior Natasha Brackett leads the Tigers in scoring with 12.0 points per game. AU?s leading rebounder is Marita Payne with 8.9 rebounds per game. The junior center also is the nation?s leader in blocks. She has an impressive 115 blocked shots this season and earned the distinction of becoming the first-ever to chart a triple-double for men or women at Auburn with 15 points, a school record 13 blocks and 12 rebounds vs. Arkansas.
Nell Fortner is in her first season at Auburn. She became the fifth head coach in Auburn women?s basketball history on April 22, 2004, replacing Joe Ciampi. Prior to Auburn, Fortner was the head coach at Purdue in 1997 where she led the Boilermakers to a share of the Big Ten regular season title with a team that returned just four players. She also spent three seasons as the head coach and general manager of the WNBA?s Indiana Fever.
Auburn leads the overall series 20-9 and has won five straight over the Cats, including a 71-54 win last season in Lexington. UK hopes to capture its first win in Auburn in seven years. The Cats? last victory in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum was Dec. 6, 1998 (68-62). Despite five consecutive losses to the Tigers, three of the last five games have been decided by seven points or less.
The Cats return to Memorial Coliseum Sunday, Feb. 27 vs. Arkansas. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Net South at 2 p.m. EST as the SEC Game of the Week.
