Matthew Mitchell’s UK Hoops had all they could handle today as they outlasted #15 seeded McNesse State 68-62 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament in Ames, Iowa.
All American A’dia Mathies struggled, only scoring 6 points on 2-10 shooting, and was plagued with foul trouble for most of the game.
[FONT=arial]Amber Smith paced the Cats with eight points, five rebounds and three assists in the first half to help pick up the slack.
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[FONT=arial]Trailing 12-11, UK went on a 10-0 run for a 21-12 lead, but w[/FONT][FONT=arial]ith the score 23-15, McNeese roared back with a 12-0 run for a 27-23 lead.[/FONT]
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UK bounced back to close the half on an 8-1 spurt and took a 31-28 advantage into intermission.
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[FONT=arial]UK got its first three-pointer of the game by Kastine Evans at 13:33, putting UK up 42-33.[/FONT]
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UK led by as many as 12 at 57-45 and [/FONT][FONT=arial]McNeese got within six points in the closing minutes but got no closer.
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[FONT=arial]Keyla Snowden led the Wildcats with 11 points, all coming in the second half.
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[FONT=arial]Samarie Walker had eight points and led the Cats with 13 rebounds as Kentucky [/FONT][FONT=arial]won the rebounding battle, 58-40.
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[FONT=arial]Kentucky advances to the second round Monday at 9:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. CDT in Ames) against the winner of the Green Bay vs. Iowa State game[/FONT]
