Senior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey (Memphis, Tenn.) notched her second consecutive double-double with 11 points and a season-high 16 rebounds and Kentucky opened the new year with a resounding 77-45 win over Texas-Pan American in Memorial Coliseum Tuesday. Senior guard Jenny Pfeiffer (North Vernon, Ind.) led all scorers with 19 points, including four three-pointers.
The Wildcats (11-3), who had trouble pulling away from the feisty Texas-Pan American squad (6-11), finally went on a 22-10 run spanning both halves to take a 44-27 lead in their seventh consecutive win. Junior guard Samantha Mahoney (Detroit) scored 10 of the 22 points during the run. Kentucky, which is off to its best 14-game start since the 1998-99 season, was forced to overcome a tough shooting night as the Wildcats connected on just 32.4 percent (11-of-34) in the first half and 40 percent (28-of-70) for the game.
?I thought we came out in the second half and really extended our lead and turned up the defensive intensity,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?We held them to 28-percent shooting in the second half. We were able to knock down some threes. [Jenny] Pfeiffer got loose in the corners a few times and extended our lead. I was able to get a lot of people some minutes tonight which is what we wanted to do.?
Mahoney added 15 points in the winning effort to eclipse the 900-point mark for her career, while junior center Sarah Elliott (McKee, Ky.) added 13. Elliott has scored in double figures in 10 of the team?s last 11 games and is UK?s leading scorer with 13.2 ppg. Elliott and Humphrey led a key post presence that out-rebounded UTPA by 14 (48-34). The Cats out-scored the Lady Broncs 36-20 in points in the paint and 18-1 in second-chance opportunities. Senior guard Nastassia Alcius (Lexington, Ky.) led UK with a season-high four assists. Pfeiffer has now hit at least one three-pointer in seven-straight games.
Humphrey has now charted double-figure rebounds in eight games this season, including three consecutive. Humphrey now has 30 double-figure rebounding performances in her career and it was her second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds. She currently ranks third in the SEC in rebounding, averaging 9.6 rpg.
?Lanky has just been doing what Lanky does,? DeMoss said. ?She is just relentless on the boards. You coach some players who just have a knack for the ball coming off the rim. She has really taken a lot of pride in her rebounding; she had 16 boards tonight which is just a lot of hard work and a lot of effort. Her timing is good and she did the job for us.?
The Wildcats broke to an early 9-0 advantage after holding Texas-Pan American scoreless for the first four minutes of the game. Humphrey had five points during that stretch. After the Lady Broncs pulled within three, 11-8, the Wildcats used a 6-0 run over the next three minutes to move ahead 17-8 thanks to back-to-back baskets by Elliott with 9:38 left.
Kentucky shot just 32.4 percent (11-of-34) from the floor in the opening period, which allowed the Lady Broncs to hang around in the game. The Wildcats took their largest lead of the half at 10 points, 31-21, on a basket by Humphrey to send them into the locker room.
?We got off to a good start offensively and then they were giving us wide open looks on the perimeter and we just didn?t knock them down,? DeMoss said. ?It just takes a little wind out of your sails when you miss those open looks. They really concentrated on our inside game and fortunately we were able to get the ball inside and get some offensive put-backs. I thought Sarah [Elliott] and Lanky [Jennifer Humphrey] did a nice job on the boards. Sam Mahoney found her rhythm on the offensive end. It was just a game of runs that first half, I thought we were much more consistent in the second half.?
After UTPA scored the first two points of the second half, the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run over the next 2:43 to extend their advantage to 42-25 with 16:48 remaining in the game. Leading 42-27, six consecutive UK points gave the Cats what was then their largest lead of the night at 48-27 on a pair of free-throws by Mahoney. The Wildcats would never look back as they led by as many as 34 points (77-43) with 31 seconds left.
Tamara Vaughn led Texas-Pan American with 11 points.
?Kentucky is obviously a very talented team,? UTPA Coach DeAnn Craft said. ?They have great length and great size. Our plan was to take away their high-low game, but they just ripped us from the corners. They are very big and you have to stay with them the whole game if you want to have a chance. They got run-outs on us and easy transition baskets. You can?t do that against Kentucky.?
Kentucky returns to action Thursday, Jan. 4 when it commences Southeastern Conference play with a 7 p.m. ET contest against South Carolina. The game will be broadcast live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio and television). It marks the second contest in a three-game, five-day stretch for the Wildcats.
Single-game general admission tickets are available for $5 adults/$2 senior citizens and children 6-18. Ages five and under are admitted free. UK students, faculty and staff also are admitted free with valid identification based on availability. For ticket information, log on to ukathletics.com or call the UK ticket office at 859-257-1818 or 1-800-928-CATS (2287).
