# 2012–13 Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team

The 2012–13 Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team represented the University of Kentucky in the 2012–13 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Wildcats, coached by Matthew Mitchell, are a member of the Southeastern Conference, and played their home games on campus at Memorial Coliseum—unlike UK's famous men's program, which played off-campus at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington.

## Pre-season outlook

The Wildcats returned four starters, including 2012 SEC Player of the Year A'dia Mathies and SEC Freshman of the Year Bria Goss, from a team that finished 28–7 and won their second regular-season Southeastern Conference title in school history, their first since 1981–82. Jennifer O'Neil also returned after sitting out the 2011–12 season with a knee injury, and Kentucky added DeNesha Stallworth (transfer from California), Jelleah Sidney (transfer from Chipola Junior College), and Janee Thompson (McDonald's All-American from Whitney Young High School). The Wildcats were ranked 6th in the Associated Press Preseason Poll, the highest preseason ranking in school history. The SEC coaches also picked Kentucky as the preseason favorite to win the 2012–13 conference title and named A'dia Mathies preseason player of the year.

## Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Janee Thompson PG | Chicago, Illinois | Whitney Young HS | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | N/A | Oct 31, 2011 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## 2012–13 roster

From the official UK women's basketball site Archived 2013-06-01 at the Wayback Machine:
| # | Name | Height | Position | Class | Hometown | Previous Team(s) |
| Scholarship Players |||||||
| 0 | Jennifer O'Neill | 5'6" | G | RS So. | Bronx, New York | Saint Michael Academy |
| 1 | A'dia Mathies | 5'9" | G | Sr. | Louisville, Kentucky | Iroquois |
| 3 | Janee Thompson | 5'7" | G | Fr. | Chicago, Illinois | Whitney Young |
| 10 | Bernisha Pinkett | 5'7" | G | Jr. | Washington, District of Columbia | Howard D. Woodson |
| 11 | DeNesha Stallworth | 6'3" | C | Jr. | Richmond, California | Pinole Valley/California |
| 12 | Jelleah Sidney | 6'2" | F/C | Jr. | Queens Village, New York | Saint Michael Academy/Chipola Junior College |
| 13 | Bria Goss | 5'10" | G | So. | Indianapolis, Indiana | Ben Davis |
| 20 | Maegan Conwright | 5'8" | G | Jr. | Arlington, Texas | Timberview |
| 23 | Samarie Walker | 6'1" | F | Jr. | West Carrollton, Ohio | Chaminade-Julienne/Connecticut |
| 31 | Samantha Drake | 6'3" | C | Jr. | Bardstown, Kentucky | Nelson County |
| 32 | Kastine Evans | 5'8" | G | Jr. | Salem, Connecticut | Norwich Free Academy |
| 40 | Brittany Henderson | 6'2" | F | Sr. | Pasadena, California | John Muir |
| 50 | Azia Bishop | 6'3" | F | So. | Toledo, Ohio | Start |

## 2012–13 schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 5* 6:00 pm | No. 6 | Bellarmine University | W 113–33 | – | Memorial Coliseum (2,202) Lexington, KY |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 10* 1:00 pm | No. 6 | at Delaware State | W 90–50 | 1–0 | Memorial Coliseum (4,637) Lexington, KY |
| November 13* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 6 | at No. 1 Baylor | L 51–85 | 1–1 | Ferrell Center (8,538) Waco, TX |
| November 17* 1:00 pm | No. 6 | High Point | W 80–46 | 2–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,169) Lexington, KY |
| November 23* 4:00 pm | No. 9 | Morehead State | W 73–37 | 3–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,421) Lexington, KY |
| November 25* 1:00 pm, UK IMG/FSN | No. 9 | USC Upstate | W 100–34 | 4–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,223) Lexington, KY |
| November 28* 11:00 am | No. 9 | Miami (Ohio) | W 92–53 | 5–1 | Memorial Coliseum (6,476) Lexington, KY |
| December 2* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 9 | at No. 6 Louisville The Battle For The Bluegrass | W 48–47 | 6–1 | KFC Yum! Center (15,453) Louisville, KY |
| December 7* 7:00 pm, UK IMG/FSN | No. 7 | DePaul | W 96–64 | 7–1 | Rupp Arena (18,488) Lexington, KY |
| December 9* 1:00 pm, UK IMG/FSN | No. 7 | Middle Tennessee State | W 68–46 | 8–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,935) Lexington, KY |
| December 18* 10:00 pm | No. 7 | at Pepperdine | W 80–62 | 9–1 | Firestone Fieldhouse (413) Malibu, CA |
| December 21* 6:00 pm | No. 7 | at UC Santa Barbara | W 66–38 | 10–1 | The Thunderdome (853) Santa Barbara, CA |
| December 28* 7:00 pm | No. 7 | Alcorn State | W 90–23 | 11–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,831) Lexington, KY |
| December 30* 1:00 pm, UK IMG/FSN | No. 7 | Marist | W 78–56 | 12–1 | Memorial Coliseum (4,919) Lexington, KY |
| January 3 7:00 pm, FSSO | No. 6 | Florida | W 76–69 | 13–1 (1–0) | Memorial Coliseum (4,862) Lexington, KY |
| January 6 3:00 pm | No. 6 | at Alabama | W 87–70 | 14–1 (2–0) | Foster Auditorium (1,342) Tuscaloosa, AL |
| January 10 7:00 pm, UK IMG/FSN | No. 6 | No. 20 Texas A&M | W 65–62 | 15–1 (3–0) | Memorial Coliseum (5,246) Lexington, KY |
| January 13 1:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 6 | at Missouri | W 69–43 | 16–1 (4–0) | Mizzou Arena (2,176) Columbia, MO |
| January 17 7:00 pm | No. 5 | Mississippi State | W 100–47 | 17–1 (5–0) | Memorial Coliseum (4,631) Lexington, KY |
| January 20 2:00 pm, SECN | No. 5 | Auburn | W 97–53 | 18–1 (6–0) | Memorial Coliseum (5,372) Lexington, KY |
| January 24 7:00 pm, SPSO | No. 5 | at No. 18 South Carolina | L 50–55 | 18–2 (6–1) | Colonial Life Arena (3,149) Columbia, SC |
| January 27 3:00 pm, SPSO | No. 5 | LSU | W 73–60 | 19–2 (7–1) | Memorial Coliseum (6,428) Lexington, KY |
| February 3 2:00 pm, SECN | No. 8 | No. 13 Georgia | L 71–75 | 19–3 (7–2) | Memorial Coliseum (7,016) Lexington, Kentucky |
| February 7 8:00 pm | No. 10 | at Arkansas | W 80–74 $^{yes}$ | 20–3 (8–2) | Bud Walton Arena (1,935) Fayetteville, AR |
| February 10 4:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 10 | at Vanderbilt | W 75–53 | 21–3 (9–2) | Memorial Gymnasium (5,233) Nashville, TN |
| February 14 7:00 pm | No. 9 | No. 14 South Carolina | W 78–74 | 22–3 (10–2) | Memorial Coliseum (5,828) Lexington, KY |
| February 18 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 8 | at No. 10 Texas A&M | W 70–66 | 23–3 (11–2) | Reed Arena (6,814) College Station, TX |
| February 24 3:00 pm | No. 8 | at LSU | L 72–77 | 23–4 (11–3) | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (6,773) Baton Rouge, LA |
| February 28 8:00 pm | No. 10 | at Ole Miss | W 90–65 | 24–4 (12–3) | Tad Smith Coliseum (637) Oxford, MS |
| March 3 3:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 10 | No. 8 Tennessee Rivalry | W 78–65 | 25–4 (13–3) | Memorial Coliseum (7,965) Lexington, KY |
| SEC tournament ||||||
| March 8 6:00 pm, SPSO | No. 7 | vs. Vanderbilt Quarterfinals | W 76–65 | 26–4 | Arena at Gwinnett Center (N/A) Duluth, GA |
| March 9 6:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 7 | vs. No. 12 Georgia Semifinals | W 60–38 | 27–4 | Arena at Gwinnett Center (6,630) Duluth, GA |
| March 10 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 7 | vs. No. 19 Texas A&M Championship | L 67–75 | 27–5 | The Arena at Gwinnett Center (5,076) Duluth, GA |
| 2013 NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 24* 12:05 pm, ESPNU | No. (2) | vs. No. (15) Navy First Round | W 61–41 | 28–5 | Carnesecca Arena (N/A) Queens, New York |
| March 26* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. (2) | vs. No. (7) Dayton Second Round | W 84–70 | 29–5 | Carnesecca Arena (1,144) Queens, NY |
| March 30* 12:04 pm, ESPN | No. (2) | vs. No. (6) Delaware Sweet Sixteen | W 69–62 | 30–5 | Webster Bank Arena (N/A) Bridgewater, CT |
| April 1 7:30 pm, ESPN | No. 8 (2) | vs. No. 1 (1) Connecticut Elite Eight | L 53–83 | 30–6 | Webster Bank Arena (8,594) Bridgeport, CT |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Player stats

| Player | Games Played | Minutes | Field Goals | Three Pointers | Free Throws | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | Points |

## Regular season notes

* Bernisha Pinkett finished with career highs of 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists against Miami (OH) on November 28.
* UK set new single-game attendance record of 18,488 vs. DePaul on December 7 in Rupp Arena. The previous record was 14,508 on December 8, 2011, vs. Duke.
* DeNesha Stallworth was named SEC Player of the Week on December 10.
* Kentucky defeated Mississippi State, 100–47, on January 17. The 53-point margin of victory is the largest against an SEC opponent in school history.
* DeNesha Stallworth scored a career-high 25 points in 24 minutes against Mississippi State
* A'dia Mathies was named SEC Player of the Week on January 21.
* Kentucky won a school record 17 straight games from November 17 to January 24.
* Kentucky set a school record with a 34-game home winning streak.