The UK Hoops team held off a late rally by Mississippi State but held on to get a SEC victory.
Victoria Dunlap dominated in the later stages of the game as she ended up with a double double of 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Bernisha Pinkett played a stellar game as she carried the team throughout when no one else could put the ball in the bucket. Pinkett finished with 13 points.
Jennifer O’Neill finished with a career high of 11 points.
A’dia Mathies had a great day at point guard, as she had 16 points and a career high 7 assists.
Defense was the name of the game as MSU ended up with 22 turnovers to Kentucky’s 13.
UK Hoops next plays at Florida on Jan. 20, gametime is 7pm.
You can follow the live blog below for all the action from today’s game.
[B]1st Half[/B]
[LIST]
[*]Keyla Snowden has not dressed for this game. She has an ankle injury and it still out.
[*]The starters for UK Hoops are A’dia Mathies, Victoria Dunlap, Kastine Evans, Carly Morrow, Brittany Henderson.
[*]Very nice crowd for the game…I know I had a rough time getting up this morning…
[*]Kentucky won the possession off the tip and had a turnover in their 1st possession. Turnovers have haunted Kentucky lately.
[*]UK has showed a lot of hustle around boards as they battled for 3 offensive rebounds and finally Kastine Evans was fouled on one of the putbacks and ended up making 2 free throws. UK 2 MSU 0 18:00 1st half.
[*]After several empty trips, A’dia Mathies finally got into the action as she drove the floor and attacked the basket and was fouled. She made both free throw attempts for a UK 4 MSU 0 lead with 16:45 remaining 1st half.
[*]By the way, Matthew Mitchell claps really loud..
[*]This has been a game of free throw shooting..and it is all Kentucky. Jennifer O’Neill was fouled on a 3 pointer in the corner and made all 3…UK 7-0 with 16:13 remaining.. UK 7-7 from the free throw line.
[*]Diamber Johnson of MSU finally broke the seal for the Bulldogs, as she hit a 10 footer to make the score 7-2 UK at the first media timeout. 15:34 left in 1st half.
[*]Kentucky is still not shooting the ball very well..as starting this game they are 0-7 from the field… Good thing MSU is only 1-3.
[*]Kentucky has already caused 6 turnovers.. Can’t find a way to capitalize on the opportunities…
[*]MSU went on an 8-0 in the last 1:53 to take a 8-7 lead. Carl Morrow took 2 threes in a row that looked out of the rhythm of the offense…UK has still not hit a shot.other
[*]Jennifer O’Neill hit a big 3 in the corner and combined with the defense causing another turnover and 3 by Bernisha Pinkett..UK takes a 13-8 lead with 12:30 left.
[*]Another made three for Jennifer O’Neill as UK takes a 16-8 lead with 12:20 left. MSU called a timeout after O’Neill’s second made 3.
[*]A’dia Mathies threw in a layup to make the score 18-8 with 11:37 left.. UK is on a 11-0 run in the last 2:59 minutes.
[*]O’Neill finally cools off a little as she missed her 1st 3point attempt. On the ensuing possession for MSU they turned the ball over…The like to travel..alot…that is their 7th turnover…Kentucky has 2.
[*]The defense has really picked up and the crowd is really excited about the hustle on the defensive end. Mississippi State’s head coach is a very scary lady…She looks like a mean loan officer that turns down everyone that applies..
[*]Several empty trips for both teams until A’dia Mathies hit a 15 footer and UK extends the lead to 21-8. Kentucky is shooting an atrocious 5-21 from the field…MSU 3-9.unl
[*]Kentucky is on 18-0 run in the last 7:24 and UK leads at the 7:02 media timeout 25-8. Jennifer O’Neill leads UK with 9 points, Mathies has 8.
[*]Dunlap gets her first basket in a while and then Kentucky causes a turnover, Dunlap scores again on the following out of bounds play to make it 29-8 with 6:00 left.
[*]MSU finally breaks double figures…really don’t know who scored it..doesn’t matter…29-10 with 5:25 left.
[*]Bernisha Pinkett has looked really good so far, as the big 3 for this game up until this point is Mathies, O’Neill, and Pinkett….Dunlap hasn’t been able to get on track at all. Does alot of other things on the defensive end, but I just think for UK Hoops to make noise vs the higher SEC competition she needs to have 20 and 10 everytime.
[*]As soon as I talk about Victoria, she gets is rolling…She hit jumper off the left wing and scored her 8th point as Kentucky leads 34-14 with 3:25 left in the 1st half. This is the final media timeout of the half.
[*]Kentucky causes MSU’s 15th turnover and Dunlap gets the reward as she scores on a layup from a Pinkett pass and pushes the lead to 36-16…
[*]MSU scored on their next 2 trips and the score is 36-18 with 2:13 remaining.
[*]Bernisha Pinkett added to her total as she hit 2 free throws to take her scoring total to 9. UK 38-20.
[*]MSU finished with 1-2 from the free throw line and Victoria Dunlap missed a last second half court shot to end the half.
[*][B]Halftime Score UK 42 MSU 21[/B]
[/LIST][B]Halftime Stats: Scoring[/B]
[LIST]
[*]Dunlap 12
[*]O’Neill 11
[*]Pinkett 9
[*]Mathies 8
[*]Evans 2
[/LIST][B]Stat of the Half: Mississippi State has 16 turnovers to Kentucky’s 3.[/B]
[B]2nd Half[/B]
[LIST]
[*]Brittany Henderson scores in the paint, but MSU has scored 5 in the half… UK 44 MSU 26 17:47 left in 2nd half.
[*]Cats have now forced double-digit turnovers in 65 consecutive games.
[*]Dunlap scores with a nice pass from Barnette and then the reigning Miss Basketball hits a 3 from the top of the key to push the Kentucky lead to 49-28 with 15:59 left.
[*]A’dia Mathies hits one of two free throws to make the score 50-28 with 14:45 left.
[*]Freshman Jennifer O’Neill has a career high in points with 11. Her previous high was 8 vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff.
[*]Defense continues to dominate for UK as Dunlap stole the inbounds pass and then led Bernisha Pinkett to a layup.
[*]MSU got hot after that and hit a couple of shots to change the score to 54-35 with 11:52 left.
[*]Crystal Riley got into the scoring column hitting a jumper to make the score 56-35 at the media timeout. There is 11:36 left..
[*]Matthew Mitchell had to call timeout with 10:12 on the clock as MSU has closed the gap to 56-40.
[*]Kentucky really looks out of cink right now…MSU has gained a little momentum with UK’s unspirited play…they have started to play not to lose instead of to win.
[*]MSU is on a 7-0 in the last 2:48.
[*]Pinkett has been the steadiest player all day and she goes to the rim and gets fouled to shoot 2… Misses both… UK 56 MSU 42 8:20 left.
[*]Starting to get a little rough in the paint as this game has become a little more competitive… I look for UK to come out pressing after the timeout and put this thing away… 56-42 7:43 left in game.
[*]Conwright goes to the line for the bonus and hits the first one. She missed the second one. 57-42 7:30
[*]Mathies answers a long MSU 3 with a driving layup to make the score 59-45.. 6:32 remaining.th
[*]Turnover Update: MSU-22 UK-11
[*]MSU has crawled back to make this a 12 point game. UK is stagnant on the offensive end and really needs to get Dunlap involved. 59-27 5 min left
[*]Right on cue Victoria Dunlap scores 4 straight, but MSU answers both times. MSU calls timeout with 4:16 remaining. UK 63 MSU 51.
[*]Bernisha Pinkett scores out of the timeout for her 13th point, but MSU answers.. 65-53 at the last media timeout. 3:37 remaining in regulation.
[*]Quick scoring update: Dunlap 18, Mathies 13, Pinkett 13, O’Neill 11
[*]Vickie D hits 2 free throws out of the timeout and the lead is pushed to 14, 67-53.
[*]The crowd groans as the ref calls a cheapy on Pinkett, which is her 4th. Both free throws went down to make the game 67-55.
[*]UK then turned the ball over and got fouled.. MSU could only convert on one of the double bonus fts… 67-56 with 3 to play.
[*]Mathies steps up and hits a big 3 but UK can’t get a stop on the other end… score hovering around 12.. 70-58. under 2 remaining.
[*]Dunlap has taken over the boards..she now has 10..under a minute to play and Dunlap seals the game with a putback.. 72-60 with 28.8 left.
[*]MSU decides to foul, which angered the loan officer…Evans couldn’t make the front end and that ended the game…
[*][B]Final Score Kentucky 72 MSU 60[/B]
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