*Photos by Regina Rickert
UK Hoops welcomed back over 45 former Wildcats and their families to campus this weekend. The special guests were recognized on Alumni Day at halftime of Sunday’s game vs. Arkansas.
Jodie Whitaker
The group included Jodie Whitaker. Whitaker has been selected as the Wildcats’ Southeastern Conference Basketball Legend and will be honored at this year’s SEC Tournament March 5-9.
More on Whitaker from ukathletics.com:
Whitaker, a native of Fishers, Ind., who played guard at Kentucky from 1986-89, is one of UK’s all-time leading scorers. She netted 1,433 career points which currently ranks 13th on the career scoring list. She was a two-time All-SEC selection by the league coaches and she earned SEC All-Tournament honors in 1988. She currently ranks in the top 10 on six career lists, including third all-time in free-throw percentage, assists, and assists per game. She hit 80-of-92 free-throw attempts as a junior for 87.0 percent, a mark that still ranks third on UK’s single-season list.
A highly touted recruit who came to Kentucky from Austin, Ind., Whitaker was the first female player in Indiana to score over 2,000 career points. She was named 1985 Indiana Miss Basketball after finishing as Indiana girls’ basketball all-time leading scorer with 2,095 points.
After graduating from UK, she spent 13 years as the head girls’ basketball coach at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, Ind., before retiring in 2009. . She was named Marion County Coach of the Year and Indiana Basketball Coaches Association District Coach of the Year in 2001. In 2004, she was selected as the head coach of the Indiana All-Stars for the annual Indiana/Kentucky All Star game and in 2011 she was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. She currently teaches physical education at Skiles Test Elementary School in Indianapolis, Ind.
Victoria Dunlap
Also included in the group was one of the most heralded players in UK Hoops history, Victoria Dunlap. Dunlap was the 2010 SEC Player of the Year and State Farm/WBCA All-American. She ranks among UK’s career leaders in points (14th-1,284), rebounds (4th-811), rebounding average (2nd – 8.1), steals (8th-207), steals per game (8th – 2.07), blocks (3rd-129), blocks per game (4th – 1.29) and double-doubles (4th-22). The former UK Hoops forward was selected by the Washington Mystics with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2011 WNBA Draft.
For many fans, Dunlap is most remembered for UK’s rout of UT Martin in 2009. Dunlap tried to throw down a slam dunk. Only five women’s college players and three WNBA players (at that time) had ever accomplished the feat. If the ball had gone in, it would have been the first dunk in UK Hoops history.
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