Feb. 26, 2012

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Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky improves to 24-5, 13-3 SEC, while Mississippi State falls to 14-15, 4-12 SEC.
  • UK’s 13 SEC wins are a new program record for most SEC wins in a season.
• With the win, Kentucky claimed the 2011-12 Southeastern Conference regular season championship outright.
  • It is UK’s second SEC title as the Wildcats also won it in 1982.
  • With Kentucky’s men also clinching the SEC championship on Saturday, UK becomes just the second program in SEC history to win the men’s and women’s championships in the same season. LSU also accomplished the feat in 2006.
• Kentucky is now 20-17 against Mississippi State all-time, and 8-8 when the game is played in Starkville.
  • The win is Kentucky’s fourth straight over Mississippi State and second in a row in Starkville.
  • Kentucky beat Mississippi State 88-40 on Jan. 8.
  • UK head coach Matthew Mitchell is 6-1 against the Bulldogs as UK’s coach, and 6-2 overall.
• Coach Matthew Mitchell is now 140-83 overall and 110-54 at UK.
• Kentucky is 652-469 in 38 years of varsity play.
  • The Wildcats are 145-216 all-time in SEC play, and 48-28 under the direction of Mitchell.
• UK finished out the regular season with a 6-5 record away from Memorial Coliseum.
• Kentucky will next travel to the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. UK will be the No. 1 overall seed, and earned a first-round bye for the third straight season. Kentucky will play the winner of the No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed on Friday, March 2 at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on FSN.

First Half Notes

• Kentucky used the starting lineup of Maegan Conwright, A’dia Mathies, Bria Goss, Kastine Evans and Samarie Walker for the third time this season. The Wildcats are 2-0 with this lineup.
  • UK has started a freshman in 132-of-164 games in the Matthew Mitchell era, including 98 straight.
• UK went on a 21-5 run in the first half spanning from the 14:51 mark of the first half to the 4:21 mark.
  • UK held Mississippi State scoreless for a stretch of 6:46 within the run.
• Kentucky had nine different players score at least two points in the first half.
  • The leader was A’dia Mathies who had eight points and coupled that with two steals.
  • Bernisha Pinkett had seven points and one steal.
• UK scored 41 points in the first half and led by 24 points holding a 41-17 lead at the intermission.
  • It was the most points UK has scored in the opening half since Jan. 29 when the Cats scored 46 vs. Alabama.
  • The Wildcats are 20-0 this season when leading or tied at the half, 10-0 in SEC play.

Second Half Notes

• Leading 41-17 coming out of the locker room, Kentucky went on a 9-2 run coming out of the half
  • A’dia Mathies hit a 3 to increase UK’s lead to 31 at 50-19.
• Bra’ Shey Ali scored a lay-up with just under seven minutes to go in the 2nd half, becoming the 10th UK player to score in the game
  • It was the first time this season 10 players scored in a single game.

Team/Game Notes

• Kentucky forced 33 turnovers in the game.
  • UK has forced double-digit miscues in 111 consecutive games. The Cats are 81-30 during that span.
  • UK is 10-1 this season when forcing 30 or more turnovers.
  • UK has forced at least 20 turnovers in 26 of 29 games this season.
  • Kentucky has forced an SEC-high 827 turnovers this season (28.51 per game) which ranks third all-time in a single season.
  • Kentucky has forced at least 10 turnovers in 49 of 58 halves this season.
  • Mississippi State’s season high for turnovers was 25 in Lexington before today’s game.
  • The Wildcats are now 92-25 when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent in the Matthew Mitchell era.
• Kentucky won the turnover battle (16-33).
• With seven made 3-pointers, UK extended its streak of consecutive games with a triple to 286.
• The Wildcats had eight players play more than 10 minutes.
• The Cats bench outscored the Bulldogs bench 30-13.
• UK collected 20 steals in the game, which was an SEC high for the 2011-12 season. The previous high was 18 in an 82-41 win over Ole Miss on Feb. 2

Individual Notes

• Sophomore guard A’dia Mathies had her 21st double-figure scoring day with 13 points.
  • Mathies has scored 10 or more points in eight of the last nine games.
  • Mathies now has 1,354 points which is just four points shy of 13th all-time at UK.
  • Mathies grabbed a game-high four steals and moved to No. 7 on UK’s single season steals list.
• Sophomore forward Bernisha Pinkett was the co-leading scorer with 13 points.
  • Pinkett went 5-7 from the field and was 2-3 from 3-point range.
  • It was Pinkett’s fifth double-figure scoring game this season.
  • Her two made 3’s tied a season high set on Feb. 13 vs. Tennessee.
• Sophomore forward Samarie Walker had nine points to go along with 10 rebounds.
  • Walker has now scored five or more points in 12 consecutive games.
  • Walker has grabbed 10 or more rebounds in two of the last three games.