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Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Scoreboard

Wildcats, press too much for Wesleyan
Kristen Rowe leads Panthers with 14 points at No. 9 Kentucky.

Wildcats, press too much for Wesleyan

Box Score

The Kentucky Wesleyan College women's basketball team hit a scoring drought in the second half, and that allowed No. 9 Kentucky to pull away for a 99-55 victory over the Panthers in an exhibition game Sunday at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington.

Kristen Rowe scored 14 points and Karly Rhoads grabbed six rebounds to lead the Panthers. But KWC committed 40 turnovers against the Wildcats' defense, leading to 58 points for UK.

"The way that they get out and pressure people, full-court press and things like that, we want to get to that point," Caleb Nieman, co-head coach of the Panthers along with wife Nicole Nieman said.

"Hopefully, we can get a full-court game going... It was cool for our girls to feel what it's going to be like when they can do that to other teams."

KWC kept Kentucky in sight with a 7-0 run to open the second half. KWC pulled within 5, 47-42, when Shelbi Tyra hit a jumper with 17:46 left.

That led to a 30-second timeout by the Wildcats.

The press then took its toll on the Panthers as UK went on a 32-0 run.

Rhoads broke the scoring drought for KWC with a bucket at the 7:47 mark. By then, the Wildcats held a 79-45 lead.

"I was just happy with the energy and the press that got that run going," Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. "Certainly, the coach in me knows you can't rely on the press like that all the time and you're not going to have a lot of runs like that with the competition we play. But I was pleased with the energy, and they did have to expend the energy to get it done."

Katie Behrens finished with nine points for KWC, and was 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

The Panthers shot 37 percent from the field (17-for-46), 8-for-16 from the 3-point line and 13-for-18 at the free-throw line (72 percent).

Victoria Dunlap scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed 10 boards for Kentucky. A'dia Mathies added 12 points while Samantha Drake finished with 10 points.

The Wildcats were 39-for-80 from the field (49 percent) and 15-for-25 at the line (60 percent).

This was the lone preseason contest for Kentucky. The Wildcats open the year Friday, hosting Morehead State at 10 a.m. CST.

The Panthers play the University of Illinois in an exhibition game on Tuesday in Champaign, Ill., then open the season against Lambuth on Saturday at Jackson, Tenn.
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