Women's SEC Basketball Results For Friday, December 4, 2009


KENTUCKY 68, CINCINNATI 57

CINCINNATI – Senior forward Lydia Watkins (Hopkinsville, Ky.) came off the bench to record a career-high 18 points and grab a season-high nine rebounds and three steals in helping the Kentucky women's basketball team advance to 8-0 and survive a scare by Cincinnati, 68-57 on Friday morning.

UK is 8-0 for the first time since 2005-06 and are just one win shy of tying the school record set by the 1980-81 squad at 9-0.

Watkins had a near perfect game, hitting 6-of-7 from the field, 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds, including seven defensive boards, a career-high tying three steals, a block and an assist. Junior Carly Morrow (Chattanooga, Tenn.) followed with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-9 from three-point land while fellow juniors Amber Smith (Winter Haven, Fla.) and Victoria Dunlap (Nashville, Tenn.) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"Lydia Watkins came to play," UK Hoops Coach Matthew Mitchell said. "She had an incredible practice on Wednesday and I was so happy to see her come out and play the way she did today."

It was a hard-fought battle from the start and once again UK had to rely on its defense prowess. The Cats forced 25 turnovers which resulted in 30 points. UK has forced 20-plus turnovers six times this season, including five in a row.

Despite hitting just 13 of 39 attempts (33.3 percent) in the first half, the Wildcats' in-your-face defense forced 17 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, seven coming from steals. UK took a 10 point-lead (28-18) with 4:41 to go but the Bearcats' hot shooting kept them in the game.

UC shot 47.6 percent (10-of-21) in the first half and pulled back within four after back-to-back three-pointers from Shanasa Sanders and Stephanie Stevens. UK held a slight 32-26 lead at the break and the momentum had shifted to UC's favor.

The Bearcats (2-5) picked up where they left off after the half, jumping out to a 20-4 run in the opening minutes of the second stanza. Carla Jacobs sparked the comeback, scoring six of her team-high 15 points in the run. The Bearcats took its first lead of the game at the 15:48 mark and held its largest lead at eight (47-39) with 12:51 to go.

The Cats responded with a 9-0 run to regain a three-point lead (50-47) with 7:33 left in the game. During that run, the Cats' defense was the difference. UK forced two shot-clock violations and Dunlap swatted one of her game-high three blocks.


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BOWLING GREEN 66, VANDERBILT 60

NASHVILLE, Tenn.(AP) -- Tracy Pontius scored 19 points to help Bowling Green beat No. 16 Vanderbilt 66-60 on Friday night.

Tamika Nurse made three 3-pointers and finished with 15 points for the Falcons (5-2), who also upset Vanderbilt in the 2007 NCAA tournament. Lauren Prochaska had 14 points.

The Commodores (7-1) trailed by 18 at one point in the first half but Jence Rhoads scored 13 of her 17 points in the second half to help Vanderbilt take a 59-58 lead with 3:21 left.

Pontius' drive got the lead back for Bowling Green and she converted four free throws in the final 46 seconds to help close it out.

Lauren Lueders scored 11 points for Vanderbilt.


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ALABAMA STATE 72, ALABAMA 67

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The women's basketball team shot better than 42 percent from the field but could not overcome Alabama State's 48 trips to the free-throw line as the Hornets came out on top 72-67 Friday night at the ASU Acadome. With the loss, the Crimson Tide drops to 4-4 overall, while Alabama State ups its season standings to 3-4.

"We played well and still could have won tonight's game, but we just couldn't make up for the difference in free throws," said head coach Wendell Hudson. "We went on a stretch in the second half where we didn't make a basket. We've got to become a better shooting team overall, and we're working at that every day. A positive for us in this game is that we found out today who could really play considering the crowd we were faced with tonight."

Shooting percentage was near even in the game with Alabama hitting 42.4 percent of its shots compared to Alabama State's 45.2 percent. In addition, the two teams pulled down an identical 34 rebounds. The Hornet's connected on 32 of their 48 attempts from the charity strip, while Alabama was 15-of-22 for the contest.

Junior Tierney Jenkins led the game in scoring with 20 points and added 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Behind Jenkins was junior LaToya King with 14. King also handed out a game-best six assists and grabbed two steals.

Alabama led early on to start the game, but Alabama State soon jumped in front and led for the majority of the half thanks to its 22 stops at the free-throw line. The Hornets scored 14 of their 32 first-half points from the stripe. The Tide found its way back on top at the 4:02 mark, but a 6-0 run for Alabama State to end the frame gave the Hornets a 32-31 edge at the break.

Jenkins got Alabama on the board with just 14 seconds off the clock in the second half to give the Tide a one-point advantage, but Alabama State soon jumped back in front and failed to give up the lead for the duration of the game. The Hornets took a 12-point lead, their largest of the night, at the 6:08 mark thanks to a layup from senior Briana Thomas. The Tide cut its deficit to five, but ran out of clock to make any more of a comeback.

Alabama returns to the court Sunday when it hosts Northwestern State in Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. (CST).




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