SUNDAY, NOVEMEBER 29, 2020
MEMORIAL COLISEUM – LEXINGTON, KY.
No. 11 Kentucky 70, BELMONT 50 – FINAL
Team Records and Series Notes
- Kentucky is 2-0 on the year, while Belmont is 0-1. This was the season opener for Belmont.
- UK is now 103-17 all-time against teams making up the current alignment of the OVC.
- This was the sixth all-time meeting between Kentucky and Belmont in women’s basketball.
- Kentucky leads the all-time series 5-1, including a 4-1 mark in neutral-site games.
- This was the third meeting between the two schools since 1988.
- Kyra Elzy is in her first season as interim head coach at Kentucky.
- Elzy is now 2-0 as head coach of Kentucky.
- Kentucky has had great success playing in Memorial Coliseum, holding a 463-159 all-time record. UK is 2-0 this season and 2-0 under Coach Elzy in the historic building.
- UK is now 847-548 all-time in its 47th year of varsity women’s basketball.
- Kentucky is ranked 11th in the latest AP Top 25 and 12th in the latest USA Today/Coaches Top 25.
- Kentucky will return to action Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET vs. Kansas State as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The game will take place in Manhattan, Kansas and be streamed on Big 12 Now.
Team Notes
- Kentucky used the starting combination of senior forward KeKe McKinney, senior guard Chasity Patterson, sophomore forward Dre’una Edwards, junior guard Blair Green and sophomore guard Emma King.
- UK is now 2-0 using this starting combination this season.
- Blair Green scored first for Kentucky in the game – the first time this season she has been the first Wildcat to score.
- This was the second career starts for Edwards, Patterson and King.
- The Wildcats started cold from the field, hitting just one of their first nine shots and had missed seven in a row before the first media timeout at 4:55 in the first quarter.
- UK responded from that timeout, going on a 10-0 run to take a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
- Both teams were a collective 11-of-30 from the field in the first quarter.
- Kentucky outscored Belmont 17-13 in the second quarter to take a double-digit lead late in the half before Belmont cut the lead to 32-23 at the break.
- UK held a 23-15 rebounding edge at the break and controlled the paint with a 22-16 paint-point advantage.
- UK won the third quarter 17-13 behind an amazing individual effort from Dre’una Edwards, who in the third quarter alone scored 10 points with seven rebounds.
- Kentucky held a double-digit lead the majority of the second half but Belmont went on a 8-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to cut the UK lead to 55-47 with 5:51 to go in the game after back-to-back 3s from Jamilyn Kinney.
- After getting outrebounded in the season opener vs. Morehead State, Kentucky outrebounded Belmont 50-37 and had a 13-6 edge in second-chance points.
- UK forced Belmont into 17 turnovers and scored 22 points off those miscues.
- This was the second game in a row that UK has scored 20+ points off turnovers.
- Kentucky has had a different player score at least 27 points in each of the first two games of a season for the first time since 2016-2017 (29 points by Makayla Epps in the first game, 28 points by Evelyn Akhator in the second game).
- KeKe McKinney and Dre’una Edwards each had a double-double in the game marking the first time two UK players recorded a double-double in the same game since Rhyne Howard and Taylor Murray did it vs. UNC on Nov. 24, 2018.
- It is the first time two UK players had 10 or more rebounds in the same game since McKinney and Wyatt did it vs. Stetson on Nov. 13, 2019.
- This was the second and last game of Rhyne Howard’s two-game suspension for not upholding the standards of the program. Tatyana Wyatt has one game remaining in her three-game suspension for violating team rules.
Player Notes
- Senior guard Chasity Patterson scored 10 points with two assists and three steals in the game.
- She has scored 10 or more points in back-to-back games.
- This was the ninth time in her career she has had two or more steals.
- This was the 13th time in her career she has scored 10 or more points in a game.
- This was the second straight game and the seventh time in her career she has led UK in steals.
- Sophomore forward Dre’una Edwards scored a career-high 27 points with a career-high tying 15 rebounds in the win.
- Edwards had 12 points and six rebounds at the break to lead all scorers going into halftime.
- The sophomore paced Kentucky in the third quarter with 10 points and seven rebounds in the quarter alone.
- Edwards had a career-high 11 field goals made and had a career-high 19 field-goals attempted.
- She also had a career high in 3s made with two and 3s attempted with four.
- This was the 19th time in her career she has scored 10 or more points and her first at Kentucky.
- This was the seventh 15+ scoring game for Edwards and her first at Kentucky.
- This was the third 20+ scoring game for Edwards and also her first at Kentucky.
- This was her eighth career double-double and her first at Kentucky.
- This was the eighth time she has recorded 10 or more rebounds in her career.
- She is the first Kentucky player with at least 27 points and 15 rebounds in a game since Evelyn Akhator vs. Mississippi State on Feb. 23, 2017.
- Junior forward KeKe McKinney scored 10 points with 10 rebounds in the game – both season highs.
- This was the second career double-double for McKinney and her first this season.
- This was the 11th career double-figure scoring game for McKinney.
- This was the fourth time in her career McKinney has recorded 10 or more rebounds.
- Junior guard Robyn Benton scored nine points in the game with four assists and five rebounds.
- This was a career-high in assists in Benton, who led UK in assists for the second-straight game.
- Benton has recorded three or more assists in each of her first two games as a Wildcat.
- Benton made her first career 3 as a Wildcat in the game, going 1-of-3 from long range.
- Benton has five rebounds in each of UK’s first two games.
