UK women’s NCAA tourney opener: Live updates

Follow along live Saturday afternoon as Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader tweets live updates from courtside during the University of Kentucky’s women’s basketball game against UNC-Asheville in Memorial Coliseum.

The NCAA Tournament Lexington Regional first-round game was scheduled to tip off around 4 p.m., following the game between Purdue and Oklahoma in Memorial Coliseum.

The No. 3-seeded Wildcats enter the game 23-7. UK finished fourth in the Southeastern Conference regular-season standings and was knocked out of the league tournament by eventual champion South Carolina in the semifinals. No. 14-seeded UNC-Asheville (26-6) won the Big South Conference regular season and tournament championships and comes into Saturday’s contest having won five games in a row and 13 of its last 15.

Saturday’s game marks the third meeting between the schools. Kentucky leads the series 2-0 and won the teams’ most recent meeting 70-55 on Feb. 1, 1995, in Asheville.

The game is being televised live on ESPN2 and is also available on WatchESPN.

The Kentucky-Asheville winner will take on Oklahoma on Monday night. The No. 6-seeded Sooners defeated Purdue 61-45 Saturday.

Monday’s winner advances to the Lexington Regional semifinals next weekend in Rupp Arena.

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 3:54 PM with the headline "UK women’s NCAA tourney opener: Live updates."