UK Hoops travels to Ole Miss, looks to continue win streak

UK+guard+Adia+Mathies+goes+for+the+layup+against+Bellarmine+University+at+Memorial+Coliseum+on+Monday%2C+Nov.+9%2C+2009.+Photo+by+Scott+Hannigan

UK guard A’dia Mathies goes for the layup against Bellarmine University at Memorial Coliseum on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009. Photo by Scott Hannigan

If it’s always darkest before dawn, the sun is rising on the UK women’s basketball season.

After losing three straight games to start the new year, No.17 UK (15-4, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) has won four straight games and is looking to make it five Thursday at Mississippi (9-9, 2-4 SEC).

“We have a very important game against Ole Miss,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “They are a very, very active and athletic team, They play a real extended zone defense that can cause us definite problems, because we don’t handle that very well.”

Junior guard Keyla Snowden was emerging as the third wheel to the dynamic duo of senior forward Victoria Dunlap and sophomore guard A’dia Mathies until she went down with a stress fracture after a home loss to Georgia on Jan. 9. The Cats needed another scorer to step up.

Snowden has only played four minutes in the past four games, but the Cats’ offense hasn’t stalled thanks to the SEC Freshman of the Week Jennifer O’Neill.

“(O’Neill) had improved play clearly. She’s been productive in league play,” Mitchell said. “She’s had three straight games scoring in double figures and when Snowden went out we needed somebody to step up and fill that void that she left in the scoring column. That’s 12 points that wasn’t showing up.”

O’Neill came off the bench for the Cats and filled that hole, averaging 12.5 points in 21.5 minutes per game. She had a career high 15 points in UK’s comeback 59-58 win at Florida, a team that runs an extended zone, last week.

With Snowden recovering and O’Neill’s stroke heating up, Ole Miss might be playing the Cats at an unfortunate time.

“I think (the team) is maturing, we have five weeks here and I think this team can improve a tremendous amount if they put their mind to it,” Mitchell said. “I think we’re still improving, that is exciting on one hand but scary that you still need to improve, so it can go either way with us.”

But Mitchell will be the first to say O’Neill still has more work to do.

“I’m happy with her progress but she still has a way to go but at least now you have some hope she is rounding into shape and kind of getting how all of this works,” Mitchell said.

Despite O’Neill’s play the Cats will need Snowden to be 100 percent for an SEC title run. While she is getting healthier, Mitchell says her production will remain limited.

“I’m not sure we can count on Keyla for what she was doing, I’m sure she was averaging in the 20 minute range and I don’t think she’s ready for that,” Mitchell said.

With a limited Snowden the Cats will face an Ole Miss team that doesn’t have an impressive record or impressive numbers, but there is a story behind every record. Mitchell says the Rebels are better than their record shows, and they have dangerous players.

“Their two leading scorers (senior guard Kayla) Melson and (freshman guard Valencia) McFarland, are two of the most dynamic guards I’ve seen on video all season,” Mitchell said. “They are very explosive and can score in transition, and they are big concerns.”

Melson is the SEC’s third leading scorer at 16.3 points per game while McFarland is averaging 12 points per game.

Three of Mississippi’s four conference losses have come to the top five teams in the conference. The Rebel’s two wins came against the No. 6 and No. 7 teams in conference, including a road win against Arkansas, a place where UK looked less than impressive in a 78-67 loss.

With the improving play of the UK bench and the team getting healthier, things around the UK women’s basketball program are getting brighter.