Jan. 15, 2015

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Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky improves to 15-3, 4-1 SEC, while Florida falls to 9-9, 1-4 SEC.
• Kentucky moves to 727-489 (63.8) all-time in 41 seasons of varsity women’s basketball and 192-159 (56.1) in the month of January.
• Matthew Mitchell, UK’s all-time winningest coach, improves to 215-103 overall, 185-74 at UK.
  • Mitchell is now 75-38 in SEC play and 9-4 vs. Florida.
• This was the 51st meeting between the programs since UK became a varsity sport in 1974-75.
  • UK leads the all-time series 27-24, including 14-10 in games played in Lexington.
  • This marked the ninth straight time the game has been decided by 10 points or less.
  • Marks UK’s second straight win over Florida after defeating the Gators last season in the SEC Tournament.
• Kentucky improves to 395-144 all-time in Memorial Coliseum, including 105-16 under Matthew Mitchell.
  • This marked UK’s 13th straight home win which ties the sixth-longest home winning streak in program history.
• Tonight’s attendance was 5,134
• Next up: UK travels to LSU Sunday, Jan. 18. The game will tip at 2 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

First Half Notes

• UK started with the lineup of Linnae Harper, Makayla Epps, Bria Goss, Alexis Jennings and Azia Bishop for the first time this season.
  • This marks UK’s sixth different starting lineup of the season.
  • Bria Goss made her first start since Dec. 14 vs. Belmont after missing six games with a thumb injury.
  • Janee Thompson was not in the starting five for the first time in 31 games after suffering a season-ending leg injury vs. South Carolina.
• Sophomore Linnae Harper led Kentucky with 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
• UK forced Florida into 16 first half turnovers, scoring nine points.   
• Kentucky trailed by as many as seven points at 22-15, before a 6-0 UK run aided by three Florida turnovers, pulled UK to within one at 22-21.
• UK closed the half on a 6-2 run, capped by a steal and layup from Linnae Harper with five seconds to go, giving UK a 29-28 lead.
• The lead changed seven different times, with nine ties in the opening 20 minutes.
• UK is now 7-1 when leading at the half and 2-1 in the SEC when leading at the break.

Second Half Notes

• UK began the second half with its original starting five of Makayla Epps, Azia Bishop, Bria Goss, Jen O’Neill and Alexis Jennings.
• Kentucky closed the second half on a 9-5 run, including six free throws from Makayla Epps.
• Kentucky shot 11-of-26 from the floor, and made three of its 14 3-pointers.
• Makayla Epps scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half.
• Kentucky shot 12 free throws in the second half with six of those coming from Makayla Epps.
• UK forced 11 second-half Gator turnovers.

Team/Game Notes

• Kentucky is now 7-2 this season in games decided by 10 points or less, and 75-43 under Matthew Mitchell all-time.
• The score was tied nine times and there were 17 lead changes.
• Kentucky forced 27 turnovers, scoring 21 points off those turnovers.
  • UK is now 14-2 this season when forcing double-digit turnovers.
  • UK has forced 20 or more turnovers in 16 of the last 18 games.
• UK had 13 steals in the game, marking the sixth straight game in double digits.
• UK improves to 49-17 in “bounce back” games (games following a loss) under Matthew Mitchell.

Individual Notes

• Sophomore guard Makayla Epps led Kentucky with 20 points.
  • Marked her third 20-point game this season and of her career (vs. Illinois 11/28/14, vs. Oklahoma 11/29/14).
  • Marked her 14th double-figure scoring game this season, and 19th of her career.
  • Went a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line.
    • Ties season high for percentage in a game (vs. Belmont 12/14/14, vs. Ole Miss 1/5/14).
  • Had four assists, the most for any UK player.
• Sophomore guard Linnae Harper scored 14 points .
  • Had nine rebounds just missing her fourth double-double of the season.
  • Marked her ninth game of the season with seven or more rebounds.
  • Swiped a career-high six steals, the most by a UK player in a single game since Janee Thompson’s seven vs. Tennessee State on 12/28.14.
  • Had UK’s only block in the game.
• Senior guard Bria Goss started in her first game since breaking her thumb on Dec. 14 in shoot around prior to UK’s game against Belmont.
  • Scored two points in 23 minutes.
• Senior guard Jennifer O’Neill came off the bench for seven points.
  • Moves up a spot to No. 16 on UK’s all-time scoring list with 1,219 points. She needs 120 move to move into Belitta Croley (1985-88, 1,339).
  • With two 3-pointers, she now has 172 in her career. She needs three more to move up to No. 4 on UK’s career list.
• Freshman guard Jaycee Coe came off the bench for career-high seven points, scoring her first points in an SEC game.
  • Her previous high was three points vs. Morehead State on 11/19/14.
  • Made her second career 3-pointer midway through the second half.