The Wildcats will play the winner of Florida vs. Mississippi State Friday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. EST
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the fifth consecutive season, the Kentucky women’s basketball team earned a first-round bye with the No. 4 seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Wildcats are preparing to square off against the winner of Florida (No. 5 seed) and Mississippi State (No. 13 seed) in the quarterfinals Friday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. EST at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga. The game will be carried live on SportsSouth/Fox Sports Southwest/Sun Sports, ESPN3 and the UK IMG Sports Network (radio) with Neil Price.
Fans can follow Twitter updates on @UKHoopCats and use hashtag #BeSECWBB to talk about the game.
Florida (18-11, 8-8 SEC) earned the fifth seed after falling to Texas A&M in its regular-season finale on Sunday, 83-72. Mississippi State, which defeated Missouri on Wednesday night, 73-70, in a thrilling back-and-forth game, is the 13th seed after finishing 19-12 overall, 5-11 in the SEC.
“We’re always excited this time of year to go compete in the SEC Tournament,” UK Hoops Coach Matthew Mitchell said. “It’s a fantastic event. I’ve always said if you win this tournament, you’ve identified yourself as a very, very good basketball team. We’ll have to play well and play hard and see if we can keep advancing in the tournament. We would love to win it and we’re going to go down there with the mindset to win it and the players have had two good practices here before we head down this afternoon, so we’re really excited to go down there to get ready to play.”
UK holds a slight, 25-24, lead over Florida in the overall series despite dropping both games against the Gators in the regular season. The Wildcats fell, 83-73, in Lexington on Jan. 5 and lost, 86-80, in Gainesville on Feb. 9.
UK is 4-2 vs. the Gators when playing in the SEC Tournament. The Cats’ last matchup against the Gators in the SEC Tournament was in Nashville, Tenn., in 2012. UK won, 71-67, in the quarterfinals.
UK leads the all-time series with Mississippi State, 23-17, and won the lone meeting between the teams this season in Starkville, Miss., 81-74, in overtime.
UK is also 4-2 vs. the Bulldogs when playing in the SEC Tournament. The last matchup came in 2010 in Duluth, Ga., with UK winning, 76-65, in the semifinals.
Overall, Kentucky is 27-35 in the SEC Tournament, including 11-12 in quarterfinal games. UK has finished in the top four of the SEC standings six out of Matthew Mitchell’s seven seasons and has earned a first-round bye in seven of the last nine tournaments, including five in a row.
A balanced scoring attack as helped Kentucky chart its school-record fifth straight 20-win season. All-SEC second team members Jennifer O’Neill (Bronx, N.Y.) and DeNesha Stallworth (Richmond, Calif.) lead the way with 13.0 and 11.9 points per game, respectively. Senior forward Samarie Walker (West Carrollton, Ohio) follows with 9.3 ppg and is UK’s leading rebounder with 8.8 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the SEC. She also has 19 career double-doubles, including eight this season which ties for fourth in the SEC. Narrowly missing the double-digit scoring mark is junior guard Bria Goss (9.9), sophomore point guard Janee Thompson (9.2), and senior guard Kastine Evans (8.8).
Additional information on the tournament, including game times and online ticket links, can be found at www.secsports.com.
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