LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The Kentucky women?s basketball team looks to keep post-season play alive and advance to the final four of the Women?s National Invitation Tournament when it plays host to Marquette Sunday, March 30 at 2 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum. The game will be carried live on the Big Blue Sports Radio Network with Neil Price, including aired on WHAS (840 AM) radio in Louisville. Live streaming video also is available on Extreme Access, the subscription video portion of UKAthletics.com.
Reserved seats for the WNIT are $10 each (all ages). General admission seats are $10 for adults and $4 for youth/seniors (18 & under, 65+). Tickets for UK Students are $4 each with a valid student identification card and must be purchased at the ticket office.
The tickets also will be available online at www.ukathletics.com, www.ticketmaster.com, and TicketMaster outlets statewide. (For a list of TicketMaster outlets, go to the website.)
The Will Call window will open Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET at the Euclid Avenue ticket windows outside Memorial Coliseum. Fans must have photo identification to pick up pre-ordered tickets. Ticket sales on Sunday before the game will take place at the Joe Craft Center Ticket Office on Lexington Avenue.
Fans are encouraged to park in Parking Structure 5 located next to Kennedy?s Bookstore on Limestone Avenue. Parking within Parking Structure 5 will be available free of charge. A shuttle bus service also will be provided and begins at 6 p.m. EST and ends at 10 p.m. EST. Additional game day parking is available in the E lots surrounding Memorial Coliseum including the Martin Luther King Parking Lot and the Student Center Parking Lot. The R Lot, located north of the Craft Center will NOT be available for public parking and will be protected.
?It?s very, very good to be playing this time of year,? UK Coach Matthew Mitchell said. ?I?m proud of our team for beating two quality opponents and our next opponent, Marquette, is another high quality opponent. We will have to pay well to win the game. I?ve watched tape on them and they are a very solid, complete and physical team. It?s going to be a tough test for us on Sunday but our team senses we have an opportunity to win a championship so we are excited to play.?
UK moved on to round four after defeating James Madison on Wednesday in the third round, 84-76, in Lexington, Ky. Senior Samantha Mahoney (Detroit), who has averaged 20.0 points in two WNIT games, led the Wildcats over the Dukes with a career-high 30 points. She hit five three-pointers and moved to No. 4 on UK’s all-time scoring list. She is now just 12 points shy of moving up to No. 3. Senior Chelsea Chowning (Berea, Ky.) followed with a career-high tying 14 points and post players Victory Dunlap (Nashville, Tenn.) and Eleia Roddy (Columbus, Ohio) added 12 and 10 points, respectively. Dunlap also grabbed double-digit rebounds for the second straight game with 12. It marked her second career double-double.
The Wildcats (17-5, 8-6 SEC) have been shooting and rebounding considerably better in the WNIT than during the regular season. In two games, the Cats have averaged a .413 shooting percentage, including a .435 percent mark from beyond the arc. During the regular season, UK shot .375 from the floor and a mere .286 from three-point land. Mahoney and Chowning are a large part of the team?s offensive improvement as they average 20.0 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. UK also owns a +9.5 rebounding margin in the WNIT compared to a -0.9 mark during the regular season. Dunlap leads the charge on the boards, averaging a squad-best 13.0 rebounds per game in the WNIT and 6.8 rpg overall.
Marquette (18-14, 8-8 Big East), which finished ninth in the Big East race this season, also received a first-round bye in the WNIT and defeated Creighton in overtime (75-69) and Illinois (72-64) to advance to the quarterfinals. The Golden Eagles are led in scoring by junior guard and two-time BIG EAST first team honoree Krystal Ellis who averages 18.5 points per game. She dropped in 25 points vs. Illinois in Marquette?s last game. MU?s leading rebounder is 6-3 senior Svetlana Kovalenko with 7.1 rebounds per game. She grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds vs. the Illini and added eight points. The Golden Eagles are led by head coach Terri Mitchell in her 12th season at MU.
The Wildcats are 2-0 all-time vs. the Golden Eagles but haven?t met them in 18 seasons. UK defeated Marquette 96-68 in the teams? first game on Dec. 2, 1989 in Lexington. The following year, the Wildcats traveled to Milwaukee, Wisc., on Dec. 12 and took an 86-60 victory over the Golden Eagles. Kentucky is 65-28 all-time, 0-1 this season against teams from Marquette?s Big East conference. The Cats have lost five straight to Big East teams, dating back to 2004-05.
The winner of Sunday?s game will meet either TCU or Colorado in the semifinals April 2 or 3 at a time and location to be determined.
