Women's Basketball Continues Road Swing at Kentucky
1/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The women's basketball team (8-9, 0-4 SEC) returns to the hardwood Sunday, Jan. 17 at 1:00 p.m. (CST) when it takes on Kentucky (13-3, 1-2 SEC) in Lexington at Memorial Coliseum. The game will air live on SEC Network as well as espn360.com.
"We talked to the team yesterday and today about showing the same poise and effort they did in the last 20 minutes or so against Auburn," said head coach Wendell Hudson. "That is going to be the key for this team to be successful on our trip up to Kentucky."
The Crimson Tide played its first game of the week on the road at in-state rival Auburn where the Tigers survived a late scare from Alabama winning 74-62. The Tide cut a 21-point Auburn lead to eight, but couldn't come any closer as the Tigers finished the contest on an 11-4 run to put the game away. Freshman Celiscia Farmer notched the first double-figure scoring game of her career finishing with 18 points in the contest. She was 7-of-16 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line. Sophomore Ericka Russell and junior Tierney Jenkins also added double-figure points for Alabama with 14 and 10, respectively. Junior Varisia Raffington led the Tide in rebounds and assists with eight boards and four assists in the game.
Kentucky was on the road Thursday as well dropping a 79-71 decision to South Carolina despite four players in double figures. Freshman A'dia Mathies led the Wildcats in scoring with a 20-point performance to go along with three blocks and a trio of steals. Following closely behind was junior Amber Smith with 19 points. Kentucky is the top scoring team in the Southeastern Conference with an average of 78.8 points per game as well as the league's leader in steals with 13.3 thefts per contest.
Sunday's meeting will be the 35th in the series with the Wildcats holding a slight edge at 19-15. In last year's game, Kentucky came out on top 67-57 on Jan. 15, 2009. The Tide's last win against the Wildcats came on Jan. 9, 2005, 69-39, in Tuscaloosa.
