Nov. 29, 2008
Kentucky advances to the championship game of the Courtyard LaGuardia Turkey Classic after a hard-fought 87-82 win over Yale in the opening round on Friday afternoon. Point guards Carly Ormerod and Amber Smith led four Wildcats in double-digit scoring with 17 points apiece. Junior forward Lydia Watkins added 16 points and nine rebounds while junior guard Amani Franklin followed with 15. Kentucky advances to the championship game of the Courtyard LaGuardia Turkey Classic after a hard-fought 87-82 win over Yale in the opening round on Friday afternoon. The game will be broadcast live on the Big Blue Sports Radio Network with Dick Gabriel. In Lexington, the game can be heard on WMJK-FM 105.5-FM.
Yale led by eight points (52-44) at the 15:27 mark of the second half before Kentucky clawed back to tie the game at 62 apiece with 10:15 to go. Four different players (Eleia Roddy, Ormerod, Franklin, and Watkins) scored in a 10-0 Kentucky run that pushed the Cats’ lead to 72-62 with seven minutes to go. UK managed to maintain a nine-point advantage (80-71) with 3:05 on the clock but Yale refused to fold. The Bulldogs, led by Melissa Colborne’s game-high 24 points, scored 11 points in a two-minute span to tie the game at 82 with 28 seconds left in the game. After a Kentucky turnover, Ormerod stole a Yale pass and hit a go-ahead layup, giving the Cats an 84-82 lead with 15 seconds to go. Smith then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and was fouled. Smith and Ormerod combined to hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 11 seconds to seal the victory.
After today’s game, UK travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to face No. 25 Xavier on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Quick Notes
- UK is 82-36 all-time in regular-season tournaments with 26 tournament titles. UK’s last tournament title was in 2006-07 at the Wells Fargo New Year’s Classic in San Antonio, Texas.
- This is the second matchup between Kentucky and Long Island in the all-time series. UK leads 1-0 after defeating the Blackbirds, 72-64, on Dec. 15, 2002.
- UK is 562-432 (.565) all-time in 35 years of varsity basketball. The Wildcats are just six games away from playing their 1,000th contest.
- Sophomore forward Victoria Dunlap leads UK and ranks fourth in the SEC in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per game. She also leads UK and is tied for first in the league in rebounding with 9.5 rebounds per game. She is tied for fourth in the SEC in field goal percentage, shooting 50.0 percent (24-of-48).
- Senior point guard Carly Ormerod ranks 10th on UK’s career list for three-pointers made (92) and needs six more to move up to No. 9 with former Wildcat Christina Jansen.
- Kentucky scored a season-high 87 points and shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the field against Yale. UK’s 87 points were the most since the 2006-07 season when the Cats put up 87 against Arkansas in Rupp Arena on Feb. 18, 2007.
- Kentucky, which ranks third in the SEC in rebounding margin, has won the rebounding battle in all four games this season, including outrebounding GW by a season-best 20 caroms (50-30).
