Kentucky’s All-American Victoria Dunlap, didn’t score her first points until the 14:41 mark of the second half, but her efforts were the key to the Cats victory as they overcame an 11 point deficit to defeat a scrappy Middle Tennessee State team, 81-72.
Twice, UK enjoyed a 13-point lead with the latest at the 6:29 mark of the first half, but MTSU wasn’t giving in or giving up. Led by Lexington’s Dunbar High School Grad Ebony Rowe, the Blue Raiders cut the lead to only 2 behind a 17-6 run.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]The start of the second half was a duplication of the end of the first as Middle Tennessee went on a 13-0 run to give Kentucky their largest deficit at 52-41.
Kentucky then went on an 8-0 run of their own, powered by Keyla Snowden’s two 3-pointers, Victoria Dunlap’s first 2 points of the game and a Dunlap steal.
It appeared that Kentucky’s 23 game home winning streak was in serious jeopardy as MTSU stretched their lead to 64-54 at the 7:22 mark. But UK wasn’t done yet as the Cats turned up the heat on defense, scoring 11 in a row and taking the lead for the first time since the 19:05 mark of the second half.
Even though Kentucky would trail once more at the 4:43 mark, the end result was never really in doubt.
UK ended the game on a 27 to 8 run, fueled by Victoria Dunlap’s 9 points and A’dia Mathies’ 8 points. Carly Morrow tossed in 5 and Keyla Snowden had 4 to give the Cats their 24th straight at Memorial and their 11th victory of the year.
Keyla Snowden led all Cats with 16 points, Mathies had 15 points, 4 assists and 3 steals and Victoria Dunlap, despite being shut completely out in the first half, scored 13 points and grabbed 5 boards.
UK’s player of the night might have been the Freshman from Lexington, Sarah Beth Barnette, who had a career high 9 points and 6 rebounds, all in 19 minutes.
Lexington’s Dunbar High School Grad, Ebony Rowe, led all scorers with a double-double, 25 points and 11 boards for MTSU.
Up next for Kentucky, Tennessee-Martin, Thursday the 30th at 6:00 PM at Memorial Coliseum. Look for a Live Feed here at Nation of Blue. Come watch the Cats and chat with the Big Blue Nation…
Go Cats!!!
[SIZE=2]Contact Chip Miller with your Kentucky questions or comments at [EMAIL=”[email protected]”][email protected][/EMAIL], via twitter at [URL=”http://twitter.com/ukbigbluenation”]@ukbigbluenation[/URL] or here at N of B, at his NofB Profile, by [URL=”http://www.nationofblue.com/members/chip-miller/”]clicking here[/URL]. [/SIZE]
