Women’s Basketball Officially Begins Practice for 45th Season
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team officially started its 45th season of varsity women’s basketball on Tuesday holding a spirited practice inside the Joe Craft Center.
The Wildcats, who have been holding individual conditioning and fundamental workouts the last month, will practice several more times this week and next week in preparation for one of the year’s most anticipated events: Big Blue Madness 2018. BBM will be Friday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. ET at Rupp Arena. Tickets to the event are sold out again this season.
“It was a good practice and a hard practice,” senior guard Maci Morris said. “Everyone pushed through the best we could and we got to see where we are as a team and what we need to work on and how we get better. I think we need to continue to improve our conditioning. The way that we are wanting to play this year we have to be in the best shape we can. We also need to keep a high level of tenacity and consistency in our defense.”
Mitchell and Co. return 10 players from last year’s squad, including returning starters Maci Morris, Taylor Murray and KeKe McKinney. Morris, who finished second in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage last season, led UK with 17.3 points per game while Murray averaged 11.5 points per game and a team-best 4.3 assists per game. McKinney started 17 games last season and averaged 4.7 points per game.
Also returning is redshirt junior Ogechi Anyagaligbo, senior forward LaShae Halsel, junior guard Jaida Roper, redshirt junior guard Amanda Paschal, sophomore center Dorie Harrison, sophomore forward Tatyana Wyatt and sophomore guard Kameron Roach. Kentucky added four players in the offseason in true freshmen Rhyne Howard and Blair Green and transfers Nae Nae Cole and Sabrina Haines. In all, UK returns 81 percent of its scoring from last season and 74 percent of its rebounding.
Kentucky will continue to prepare through the month of October in anticipation for its lone exhibition of the game against Lincoln Memorial on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. ET. UK will begin its season on Wednesday, Nov. 7 against Alabama State at 7 p.m. ET.
Fans will have a chance to meet the 2018-19 team at the Meet the Wildcats event on Monday, Oct. 22 inside Memorial Coliseum. The event will start at 6:30 p.m. ET and feature food, introduction and meet and greet with the team, autographs, silent auction, kids games and more. Registration is open now by clicking here. Tickets are free to Victory Club Members who have enrolled in the program by Oct. 12, $5 per person for season ticket holders and $10 per person for the general public. Children age 5 and under are free.
For more information on the Kentucky women’s basketball team, visit UKathletics.com or follow @KentuckyWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, or Kentucky Women’s Basketball on Facebook.
