Every Tuesday, UK Athletics recognizes outstanding performances for our student-athletes. These are the honorees for the week ending Sunday, Feb. 10:
Softball: Lauren Cumbess
Outstanding opening weekend for Cumbess, sitting first in ERA with a 2.50 mark and fourth in batting average on the team. Her season started with a bang when she threw nine strong innings against No. 3 California, getting the win over the highly ranked squad. Against Cal, Cumbess went the distance, allowing only six hits, two runs, two earned runs while striking out six. Her performance at the plate against Cal is what won UK the game, going 2-for-4 with two RBI, including the game-winning hit in the ninth inning against Jolene Henderson, who is the two-time defending Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year. Ended the weekend with a .368 batting average with seven hits, including one double and five RBI.
Gymnastics: Audrey Harrison
Audrey Harrison won the individual all-around title for the second straight week with a career-high 39.3 on Friday inside.
The junior also took the floor exercise crown after posting a career-best tying 9.9 to help spark an improbable comeback as the Wildcats would tie then-No. 6 Georgia.
The Knoxville, Tenn., native now has eight individual event honors this season and 15 in her career. Her four all-around wins in 2013 have all come against Southeastern Conference competition.
Track and field: Cally Macumber
Cally Macumber won the women’s 3,000 meters at the Husky Classic on the Washington campus in Seattle on Saturday.
Her time of 8:59.98 smashed three-time 5K NCAA champion Valarie McGovern’s school record of 9:05.74.
Macumber set a new personal-best by more than 10 seconds, and the time currently leads the SEC. The performance is also third-fastest in the nation this season, and she is in elite company as one of just three collegiate women in America to break nine minutes at 3K this season.
Women’s basketball: A’dia Mathies
- Senior guard A’dia Mathies led UK to road wins at Arkansas and Vanderbilt last week.
- Averaged a team-high 21.5 points, along with 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals in the two wins.
- In a tough, come-from-behind overtime win at Arkansas, she scored 13 of her 15 points in the decisive second half, including four in overtime play to give the Wildcats their first win in Fayetteville since 2010.
- Hit four of her last six shot attempts in the overtime win and grabbed a season-high tying nine rebounds and team-high five assists.
- Had an all-around impressive performance vs. Vanderbilt by netting a season-high 28 points on 10-of-17 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.
- Holding just a slight five-point lead with seven minutes to play in the first half, Mathies scored the final nine points for the Cats, giving the Cats a nine-point 31-22 advantage at the break.
- Concluded the first half with a game-high 15 points.
- The 28 points marked the third-largest point total in her career and the most since scoring 34 points vs. Tennessee on Jan. 12, 2012.
- The 28 points moved her up to No. 3 on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,815 career points.
- Mathies became just the third player in UK history to score over 1,800 career points.
- Tied her career high with five 3-pointers and dished out a team-high five assists against the ‘Dores.
- Has reached double figures in 22-of-24 games this season, including 15 in a row.
- Leads the team in scoring (15.8 ppg), including 18.8 points per game in SEC play … Also leads UK in 3-pointers made (50) and assists per game (1.3) this season.
Men’s basketball: Nerlens Noel
Freshman Nerlens Noel helped lead UK to a pair of wins at home this week to run the Wildcats’ winning streak to five games. Noel logged double-doubles in both outings and has now put together a career-long three-game double-double streak. Noel had 10 points and 10 boards in a win over South Carolina to couple with five blocks. Against Auburn, he logged 10 points on a career-best 8-for-13 day at the line to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds. He continued his streak of at least one block in every game this season.
Softball: Kelsey Nunley
Impressive in her first collegiate action, going 3-0 with wins over Western Michigan, Oregon State – who is receiving votes in both major preseason polls – and No. 20/21 Stanford. Nunley’s first action of the season came against Western Michigan, where she posted a complete game, allowing only one run and four hits with nine strikeouts. She also came on the next day in mid-innings against Oregon State, throwing 2.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, allowing UK to take a late lead and get the win. Her most impressive performance of the weekend came against Stanford, where she limited the top-20 Cardinal to four hits and one earned run while striking out eight. In fact, Stanford’s leadoff batter reached on an infield single but Nunley would not give up another hit until the bottom of the fifth inning. In her two starts against Western Michigan and Stanford, Nunley went 12 innings, giving up only eight hits and two earned runs while striking out 17.