Fans are encouraged to bring unused toiletry items to Thursday’s game
*Photo by Regina Rickert
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The seventh-ranked Kentucky women’s basketball team concludes its three-game homestand on Thursday, Nov. 21, with a matchup vs. Lipscomb at 7 p.m. ET in Memorial Coliseum. UK will look to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 2011-12 and fourth time under head coach Matthew Mitchell. Fans can listen to the UK IMG Sports Radio Network with Neil Price or follow Twitter updates on @UKHoopCats. Live streaming video is available to members of the subscription video portion of www.UKathletics.com.
Single-game reserved tickets cost of $9 for all ages. General admission tickets for adults are $8 while single-game general admission tickets for seniors and children (ages 6-18, 65 and over) are only $5. UK faculty, staff and children ages five and under are admitted free in the general admission seating area, while supplies last. Season tickets are also still available for just $65. Lower-level chair back seating ($80) is sold out.
During the Wildcats’ next two home games, Thursday vs. Lipscomb at 7 p.m. ET and Wednesday, Nov. 27 vs. Bradley at Noon, fans are asked to bring unused toiletry items travel size or regular size (tooth brush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant) to either game. The items will be donated to Bluegrass Hospitality Group’s Thanksgiving Dinner for the less fortunate, which will take place on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 28) from 11-2 p.m. ET at Malone’s and Sal’s on Tates Creek Road.
Fans who donate items will receive a voucher for a free box of popcorn with their donation. Fans can bring their toiletry items to any of the UK Marketing gazebos located inside Memorial Coliseum.
“We are excited to be back in the Coliseum against a good opponent in Lipscomb,” Mitchell said. “We have a great amount of respect for their team and they are very well coached and we will have to be ready for that challenge. I just want to encourage a big crowd tomorrow night. We are trying to gather items to help people that might not be as fortunate as we are and any unused toiletry items that you can bring to the game to help people with the cold winter months headed this way (would be great). We are running a promotion here to help people in our community. Any toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, deodorant, anything that you can find that might help someone that is less-fortunate than all of us who will be at the game tomorrow night we would be very, very appreciate of that. We ask our fans to participate and we know that you will.”
The Wildcats (4-0) are coming off a 96-74 win over Central Michigan on Sunday. Six players hit the double-digit mark for the second straight game, paced by senior forward and All-America candidate DeNesha Stallworth (Richmond, Calif.0 with a season-high 21 points. Sophomore point guard Janee Thompson (Chicago) registered career highs in minutes played (28), points (17), field goals attempted (12) and steals (6), while tying her career high in rebounds (4). Senior guard Kastine Evans (Salem, Conn.) finished with 13 points and a season-high tying three assists and senior forward Samarie Walker (West Carrollton, Ohio) notched her first double-double of the season and 12th of her career with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Jennifer O’Neill (Bronx, N.Y.) scored 11 points off the bench and junior center Azia Bishop (Toledo, Ohio) finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocks.
UK has scored 90-plus points in three straight games. It marks the first time since the 1990-91 season UK has netted 90 or more points in three straight games when the Cats opened the season with four wins over 90 points – Kent State (114-83), Duquesne (101-56), Northern Kentucky (97-79) and Ohio State (107-73). The Wildcats have also dished out 20-plus assists in three straight games for the first time since the 1989-90 season vs. Stetson (24), Dayton (24) and Cincinnati (24).
Overall, Stallworth leads the Wildcats in scoring with 15.3 points per game. Walker is the team’s leading rebounder with 9.0 rebounds per game and is shooting a team-high 65.4 percent (17-of-26) from the field. Evans leads the way behind the arc, netting 50.0 percent of her attempts (8-of-16).
Located in Nashville, Tenn., Lipscomb is 0-3 after losses to Morehead State (82-77), UAB (70-54) and Belmont (68-52). Redshirt sophomore Ashley Southern is one of two players averaging a double-double through three games with 17.7 points and 16.0 rebounds per game.
Sophomore Alex Banks is the team’s leading returning scorer and rebounder after averaging 8.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as a freshman. She scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the lone game she played this season. She has missed two games due to injury.
The Lady Bisons went 3-26 last season, including a 2-16 mark in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Lipscomb returns six letterwinners and three starters off last season’s squad.
“Lipscomb is a team that is going to try and use their skill level to make some plays against us and we have to work really hard defensively and communicate tomorrow,” Mitchell explained. “They have some really good set-actions in the halfcourt and really make good decisions with the basketball and have a player right now that is averaging a double-double. We will have to be ready for them and we have had two good days of practice and preparation and we need to take the floor tomorrow night with a lot of enthusiasm and energy and we have a good 40 minutes of Kentucky basketball tomorrow night to get a victory.”
UK is 1-0 all-time vs. Lipscomb and 17-5 all-time vs. teams from the Atlantic Sun. This marks the first meeting between the two programs in Lexington.
The Wildcats have now won 14 straight regular season non-conference games and 40 straight regular season games vs. non-conference opponents at home. The Cats own a 374-141 (72.6) mark in Memorial Coliseum, including an 84-13 (86.6) record under Matthew Mitchell.
For parking information, please visit www.ukathletics.com/wbbgameday.
[adsenseyu4]
