No. 11 Kentucky women’s basketball set to face four-time defending OVC champion
Despite missing a pair of key players, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team rolled over Murray State, 86-60, in last week’s season opener — delivering interim head coach Kyra Elzy a big win in her head-coaching debut.
The 11th-ranked Wildcats will again be without national player of the year candidate Rhyne Howard and senior forward Tatyana Wyatt when they take the floor against Belmont in Memorial Coliseum on Sunday at 4 p.m. Howard was suspended two games and Wyatt three games for unspecified reasons prior to the Murray State game.
Between seasoned veterans and talented newcomers, UK generated more than enough offense to take care of business against Murray. The Cats will look to keep the momentum rolling against the Bruins and their fourth-year head coach, Bart Brooks, but the sledding could be much tougher this time around.
Belmont, which will open its season against UK, has won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship four years in a row. The Bruins return two starters from last year’s squad, which went 22-9 overall. Junior Conley Chinn, a 6-foot-1 forward, averaged 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, while 5-foot-7 junior guard Jamilyn Kinney averaged 8.2 points and a team-best 3.2 assists.
Among Belmont’s key reserves is senior forward Madison Treece, the tallest player on the Bruins’ roster at 6-foot-4. Treece, a Missouri native who was ranked by ESPN as the No. 81 overall player in the 2017 recruiting class, was verbally committed to Kentucky before signing with Duke. She transferred to Belmont halfway through her sophomore season. Treece averaged 4.2 points in her first season with the Bruins last year.
Sunday
Belmont at No. 11 Kentucky
When: 4 p.m.
Where: Memorial Coliseum (limited spectators)
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WBUL-FM 98.5
Series: Kentucky leads 4-1
Last meeting: Kentucky won 73-70 on March 17, 2017, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Memorial Coliseum.
