The Kentucky senior class of Danyelle Payne, Sara Potts and Keiko Tate combined for 43 points and 17 rebounds on ?Senior Day? to pace the UK Hoops team to a 73-67 victory over Arkansas Sunday, Feb. 27 in Memorial Coliseum.
Potts notched the fourth double-double of her career by tying a season-high with 27 points and bringing down a season-high 10 rebounds. Payne and Tate each added eight points for the Cats, who finish the regular season with a 15-14 record. UK?s 15 wins are the most since the 1999-00 squad also won 15. The Wildcats? 4-10 conference record is the best since the 2002-03 team also won four league games.
?I thought it was a hard-fought game by both teams,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?I?m really proud of the way we fought for 40 minutes. We played with the same intensity and determination at the end of the game as we did in the first half. The seniors stepped up big for us tonight and made some key plays. It?s a fitting end to their careers to go out with a win at home and play the way they did.?
Freshman center Sarah Elliott scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, brought down seven rebounds, and came up with two steals for the Cats, who shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the field, including 56.0 percent (14-of-25) in the second half and The Cats hit 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the free-throw line. Elliott led a powerful UK inside game, which out-scored the Lady ?Backs 38-22 in points in the paint and out-rebounded Arkansas 43-36. Sarah Pfeifer led four players in double-figures for Arkansas (15-12, 3-11 SEC) with 24 points.
The Wildcats (15-14, 4-10 SEC) held a narrow two-point edge (64-62) with just under five minutes remaining, but Payne and Potts each made two free-throws to push the UK lead to six (68-62) with 4:25 to go. From there, both teams failed to score for the next 2:28 before a jumper by Arkansas? Kristen Peoples ended the drought. Free throws extended the Wildcats? advantage to eight, 72-64, with 47 seconds left until a three-pointer by the Lady ?Backs? Rochelle Vaughn from the deep right corner brought Arkansas back into the game, 72-67. Freshman Chante? Bowman made 1-of-2 free-throws with 30 seconds left and UK hung on for the win.
?I thought that our defensive intensity was very good,? DeMoss said. ?These last few ballgames, we have been playing in spurts. Everybody had the mindset that we weren?t going to lose and that filtered throughout the entire team.?
The Wildcats scored six of the second half?s first eight points to pull ahead 39-33 after back-to-back baskets by Bowman and Mahoney at the 18:13 mark. After UK extended its lead to six, 48-42, on a resounding three-pointer by Potts, Arkansas whittled its deficit down to one, 50-49, on a three-point play by Peoples with 11:30 remaining in the game.
Kentucky took a 33-31 lead into the locker room at halftime and the Wildcats shot 42.2 percent (14-of-33) from the floor in the opening stanze. Potts led the Cats with 13 points in the opening period while Pfeifer had 14 for Arkansas, which shot 38.2 percent (13-of-34) from the field.
The two teams battled evenly for the first few minutes of the game before the Lady ?Backs took a 10-7 lead after Pfeifer scored eight of Arkansas? first 10 points. After a basket by Tate knotted the score at 10, UK went on a 6-0 run capped off by a jumper from Elliott at the 10:36 mark to take a 16-10 advantage. From there, the Cats would not trail the rest of the way.
The Wildcats return to action Thursday, March 3 in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C. The game will be aired on FSN South and on WLXG 1300 AM with Chris Cross. UK?s first-round opponent is TBA.
