The women’s basketball team hosted their Blue-White Scrimmage Sunday afternoon inside Memorial Coliseum. 

There were only a hundred or so spectators on hand to witness the start of the season for the women’s squad—but those who were there were in for an exciting afternoon of Kentucky basketball.

“Thank you all for coming, we enjoyed having you all here today,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said to the fans after the scrimmage. “This is such a fun and exciting team … We need all the fun and excitement in Memorial Coliseum this season.”

Here are some takeaways from the scrimmage:

Makayla Epps and Azia Bishop

Former Kentucky women’s basketball stars Azia Bishop and Makayla Epps were brought back to the program to help flush out the 11-woman roster. 

The two former Wildcats were a part of the White team comprised of them, student managers and assistant coach Amber Smith.

No Treasure Hunt

The former McDonald’s All-American Treasure Hunt was rendered a spectator during Sunday’s scrimmage. She sat riding the exercise bike for the majority of the day. Her status is unconfirmed.

Pushing the tempo

The main battle cry head coach Kyra Elzy shouted consistently Sunday was to push the ball forward to the open court. Pre-season All American Rhyne Howard is pure at the rim; Dre’Una Edwards and Olivia Ownes are a pair of brick walls in the paint as well.

Kentucky can stuff the ball in the paint and the bigs have the wherewithal to kick it back out for the trey. Those unselfish plays are going to be the key to finding the success they found last season.

The girls are in shape

The difference a full summer makes.

Jazmine Massengill looks like she’s in mid-season form. Not only has she transformed her body into the build of a successful point guard in the SEC, the speed and passing ability is there as well. You can tell she’s taken the summer and fall to work and build on her game.

The biggest problem Blair Green had last season wasn’t her shooting, passing, consistency on the court, etc.—it was her size in the fact that other shooting guards pushed her around on the outside, which contributed in her only averaging six points per game despite starting 18 of 27 games last season.

Green looks to have prioritized strength training over the summer and from the small sample size that Sunday’s scrimmage provided, it’s translated on the court. She was able to get to the rim and hold her own on the defense—two facets of her game that were missing this time last year.

Rhyne Howard vs. Makayla Epps 

A Kentucky women’s basketball dream match up—Rhyne Howard vs. Makayla Epps.

The two didn’t go 100 percent, of course, but to see those two one-on-one was nothing short of mesmerizing as the biggest star of Kentucky women’s basketball of today faced the biggest star of yesterday. 

Fans in attendance were able to witness a match up that would never be possible anywhere else as Epps has since retired from the game after a short stint in the WNBA.

Defense

Stuffing the managers at the rim, forcing Epps into air balls from deep, trapping their coach inside the arc—this team impressed on the defensive end of things Sunday afternoon.

Edwards and Owens played a clean game inside the paint and the perimeter defense from Massengill, Green, Howard and Robyn Benton have all improved on the defensive end.

Howard and Green cannot miss

If the ball left either guard’s hands—it went in the basket. The dynamic guard tandem is the main reason the Blue team defeated the White squad 77-42 at the end of the game.

Howard finished with 22 points to lead the game. Green finished with 15 points as well and Edwards had a quiet 20, as most of her points came at the rim.

The next time the Cats will be in action is against Lee University in Lexington on Nov. 4 at 1 p.m.