LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) — The Kentucky women’s basketball team had one exhibition this season and took advantage of it, beating Kentucky State 88-71 on Wednesday.
Education Day was held at Rupp Arena with 5th grade classes all across central Kentucky attending the 11 a.m. game, bringing 5,457 fans in to cheer on the Wildcats.
“At least two or three time outs I couldn’t hear myself speaking out loud and I know the players couldn’t hear me. I just finally just started writing the messages on the board with my marker,” Kentucky women’s basketball head coach Kyra Elzy said.
The kids and fans had a ton to cheer about early in this game, especially with the play of senior forward Ajae Petty, scoring 19 points and grabbing 13 rebounds for a double-double.
“I think the main thing that we focused on was coming out and playing hard and we had a lot of people out there, fans. We were grateful that they came out to watch us play. So I think the best thing that we could say we focused on was just going out and giving everything that we have,” Petty said.
Star returning player Maddie Scherr had just seven points but led the way distributing the basketball with five assists, tied for the lead with Tennessee transfer Brooklynn Miles, a Franklin County native. Saniah Tyler, Emma King and Eniya Russell each had 12 points.
Kentucky gets the regular season started on Tuesday, November 7th against ETSU. With Memorial Coliseum under construction, this game will be played at the Clive M. Beck Center, home of Transylvania University basketball.
