With a second career victory over Tennessee last Thursday, several seniors on the UK women’s basketball team said they felt their careers had come full circle. Seniors Eleia Roddy, Jenn’e Jackson and Carly Ormerod were all on the team during the Cat’s memorable win over the Lady Vols in 2006.
Senior Night arrives on Thursday for the Cats (14-13, 4-8 Southeastern Conference) as they host Georgia (15-12, 5-7 SEC) at Memorial Coliseum in a game with major postseason implications for both teams.
It comes as no surprise that many of the seniors still feel they have unfinished business this late in their careers. Roddy— a center who arrived at UK in 2004 and is on the verge of completing her fifth season with the Cats after taking a medical redshirt during the 2006-07 season— said she would like to gather a few more double-doubles and move into the nations leaders in that statistical category. Roddy currently ranks 13th in the country with 11 double-doubles on the season.
The Cats’ record doesn’t even assure them a WNIT berth, as three consecutive losses to finish the season (including a first-round exit in the SEC Tournament) would make them ineligible for the WNIT.
A berth in any postseason tournament would make a school-record five consecutive postseason appearances, a goal many of the seniors had when they entered the program. Still, none of the seniors are counting out a run in the SEC tournament that could place them in the NCAA tournament.
“We can win,” Roddy said. “We can take it all. Win the first game, win the second one, win the third one, then take the championship. We know we definitely have to win the championship for us to go the NCAA tournament, and we think that is very possible.”
Georgia enters the game carrying a five-game losing streak, and the Cats have lost seven of their last nine. A win moves the Cats past Georgia in the SEC standings, and help them immensely in any effort to make a run in the SEC tournament.
“I think for us, playing well tomorrow night gets us one step closer to playing well in the tournament,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We clearly need to get on a roll here and win a bunch of games, so (Thursday) night is huge for us from that standpoint.”
Sophomore center Catina Bett will not play on Thursday, Mitchell said. Bett, who is second on the team in blocks, has missed the last two games due to a violation of team rules. Mitchell said that Roddy, who missed Sunday’s game at Louisiana State with flu-like symptoms, is expected to play after looking good in practice on Wednesday.
Those losses meant that Jackson was pressed into a starting role on Sunday against LSU. Jackson, who played in just four games in her junior season, has taken a bigger role in her final year with the team.
“My role has become a lot bigger, and it’s very exciting,” Jackson said. “You know, I’m not afraid to take up that challenge of being the backup post player for Eleia Roddy.”
Ormerod, who has been one of the most visible players on the team since starting 31 games as a freshman, said she wants to be remembered by the change she and her teammates effected on the program.
“I hope that people look at this class and see the improvement that we made on this program,” Ormerod said. “I think that when we got here, some people looked at Kentucky as an easy ‘W,’ and I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”
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