By Anthony Crawford

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It was just another day in the office for No. 13 UK women’s basketball as the team easily handled its business against the Colorado Buffaloes at Memorial Coliseum.

Colorado was UK’s first foe with size to match the Cats, but UK overcame it to win 86-61.

The Buffaloes have six players on their roster that are 6’2” or taller and four of them played significant minutes against the Cats.

The height proved to be bothersome for UK. The Buffaloes nearly matched them on the boards as UK finished with 38 to Colorado’s 35.

The rebounding advantage could be due to UK’s leading rebounder, Evelyn Akhator, playing limited minutes because of a  minor ankle injury that occurred in the game against Morehead State. Akhator played only 22 minutes, but still finished with ten points and nine rebounds.

Colorado’s size also hurt the Cats by causing forward Alexis Jennings to get in foul trouble early in the first quarter.

Jennings was able to contribute in the second half and finish the game with 10 points.

Because of Jennings absence in the post and Colorado’s size inside, UK was forced to become a jump shooting team. That allowed for that aspect of the Cats game to shine as UK finished the game shooting 11-18 from three.

Senior Janee Thompson led the Cats offense continuing her recent success from behind the line by going 3-5 from behind the line and finishing with 17 points and 7 assists to lead the Cats in both of those categories.

After the season-ending injury she suffered last year, Thompson has started the season out strong and continues to improve with each game.

“She just continues to feel better. She just feels better everyday,” head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “She’s shooting the ball better than everybody on the team right now.”

Freshman Maci Morris also helped carry the scoring load for UK. She finished with 13 points and shot 3-6 from behind the arc, which included hitting back-to-back three’s in the third quarter to help extend the Cats’ lead.

Surprisingly for a Mitchell-coached team, the emphasis in practice has been mainly on offense.

The teams continued to show it paying off, though, as the Cats again finished with 24 assisted field goals out of their 34 total.

“Everybody overall in general has a great understanding of what we are trying to get accomplished on the court,” Thompson said. “And we are not just out there running plays just to get to a spot. We know what it is we are trying to get out of each piece of the play.”