The UK Hoops team started off slow, but finished strong and put away Morehead State 82-48. A’dia Mathies and Victoria Dunlap led the Cats with 18 points a piece, and a couple of freshman picked up the slack left by an injury to Keyla Snowden.
Snowden only played 10 minutes because of an apparent knee injury, which caused her to be carried off the court in the first half. Coach Mitchell said about the injury,”Too early to tell.” “It doesn’t look terrible and I’m feeling OK about it right now.” He went on to say,”We will know more tomorrow and see if there is any swelling.”
Dunlap had her points, but she wasn’t really efficient from the field. The potential Naismith Player of the Year was 4-16 from the field, as she struggled from the field the entire game. The good thing about Victoria though, she did the other things even though she wasn’t hitting her shots. She finished with 9 rebounds, 7 steals, and 4 blocks, and only committing 1 turnover. Coach Mitchell said he could tell that she was “into it mentally” because of her free throw shooting. Victoria was 8-10 from the line. I wouldn’t expect her to shoot this bad from the field every game, that is for sure.
A’dia Mathies looks like a savvy veteran on the floor as she controls the game with her outside shot and hustle on the floor. She was 6-9 from the field, hitting 2 from outside the arc. She was also 4-6 from the free throw stripe. Mathies teamed with Dunlap is a lethal duo which will wreak havoc on opponents the entire year.
The two freshman which played a huge part in the victory was Bernisha Pinkett and Maegan Conwright. Pinkett finished with 12 points on 5-10 shooting and Conwright had 8 points on 4-10 shooting. This team will need these two to play a big part every game for them to make a run at a SEC championship and possibly a National Championship.
I really enjoyed watching this team and as long as they don’t keep starting so slow, especially when SEC play starts, they should have a great year. The 1st half was so dreary , but the 2nd half was how they should play all the time. If you get a chance, get out and watch the UK Hoops team. This team is going to be in the hunt the entire year. Go Cats!!
