No. 17 Kentucky (17-4, 6-2) continued its winning streak yesterday in Coleman Coliseum against the Alabama Crimson Tide with a 82-69 victory. It was the last game the women’s basketball team will play in Coleman. The remainder of their games will be played at Foster Auditorium.
“This basketball game can be summed up in one statement — offensive rebounds,” said head coach Wendell Hudson. “We didn’t take advantage of some of those opportunities we had to not make them feel good about how they were starting the second half.”
After getting down early, Alabama went on a six-point scoring run consisting of back-to-back baskets by Tierney Jenkins and a fast break layup by Celiscia Farmer. The run put the Tide up 8-6 before a timeout was called.
In the final minute of the half, Jenkins scored off a lob pass from Horn. Russell then blocked a UK pass that forced Wildcats to call a timeout after being disrupted offensively. Jenkins come up with a steal after the UK timeout and scored on a layup.
The Tide ended the half ahead by two, 37-35, with both teams shooting around 44 percent from the field.
“Going into halftime, we just realized that we had to keep blocking out,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s the biggest thing that has hurt us in our past couple games and hurt us tonight once again. I think that’s the biggest thing we have to work on and go from there.”
At the half, Jenkins led the Tide with 16 points, six rebounds and three steals. Dunlap collected 10 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, two steals and three turnovers.
Dunlap leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring at 17.4 points per game and in steals with 3.4 a game. Jenkins leads the SEC in rebounding at 10.5 per game and is second in steals, averaging 2.8 a game. Both are natives of Tennessee and have been competing against each other for years.
“Since high school we’ve always played together, so we kind of know each other and how we play,” Jenkins said. “It’s kind of like a bittersweet rivalry because you’re friends, but you want to come out on the top end of course.”
After sitting out most of the first half because of foul trouble, Kentucky’s A’dia Mathies started the second half back at the point guard position for the Wildcats. Mathies finished the game with 12 points and five rebounds while Dunlap had 25 and 15.
Jenkins led the Tide with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Russell was the only other Alabama player in double digits with 11.
The Tide did pull closer than eight points in the final minutes of the game but suffered its ninth straight SEC defeat. The loss pushed the Tide’s record to 11-11 (0-9) on the year, and the team will head to Mississippi State (0-8 in the SEC) Thursday.
“One of us got to win,” Hudson said. “I hope it’s us. I don’t think it’s who we’re playing and the records. I think everybody we’ve played here recently, we’ve given ourselves a chance to win… we just are not finishing the plays.”
The Tide’s next home game will be a rematch against Florida Feb. 13 in its new home at Foster Auditorium.
