The Kentucky Wildcats women's basketball team represents the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

. The Wildcats have four Elite Eight appearances and seventeen appearances in the

NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...

. They have won the SEC tournament twice and SEC regular season championship once. The first University of Kentucky women's basketball team was organized in 1902, and competed for the first time on Feb. 21, 1903. However, in 1924, despite a perfect 10-0 season, the University Senate passed a bill to abolish women's basketball in part because, according to state politicians, "basketball had proven to be a strenuous sport for boys and therefore was too strenuous for girls." After 50 years, women's basketball was granted varsity status in 1974, and most of the official records maintained by the university only reflect games since that time. The team, coached by Sue Feamster, was given the nickname "Lady Kats", which continued to be used until May 1995. The team is currently coached by Kyra Elzy.

Facilities

Since the restoration of the program in 1974, the Kentucky Wildcats have played their home games in the 8,500 seat Memorial Coliseum, and their record attendance in that building is 10,622, set on February 5, 1983 against Old Dominion; they also led the nation with an average attendance of 3,645 that season. In recent years, the team has also played occasional games in Rupp Arena, which had a capacity of 23,500 before a renovation completed in 2019 reduced the capacity to 20,545. In January 2007, the university opened the

Joe Craft Center The Joe Craft Center, opened in January 2007, is a basketball practice facility and athletics office building attached to Memorial Coliseum on the "Avenue of Champions" at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. The facility is n ...

, a $30 million state-of-the-art basketball practice facility for both the men's and women's teams, named after businessman and philanthropist

Joe Craft Joseph Craft III (born 1950) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the president and chief executive officer of Alliance Resource Partners, L.P., the third-largest coal producer in the eastern United States. Craft has taken the Gi ...

. In July 2022,

Athletic Director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Mitch Barnhart announced that Memorial Coliseum would be receiving extensive upgrades next year. Most notably, Air Conditioning would be added to the building for the first time, as well as seating upgrades, and the addition of new event space. The renovations are expected to last for one competitive year, displacing all 4 teams who call the arena home.

History

Led by UK all-time leading scorer

Valerie Still Valerie Still (born 1961) is an American former professional women's basketball player with the Washington Mystics of the WNBA and the Columbus Quest of the American Basketball League (ABL). During her four years at the University of K ...

, Patty Jo Hedges, and Lea Wise, the Lady Kats won the SEC Tournament in 1982. The following year, the same trio led the team to a #4 ranking in the country, the highest in the team's history.

Head coaches

* Jane Todd Watson (1903) * C.P. St. John (1904 - ?) * Thomson Bryant (? - 1907) * C.W. Leaphart (1907–1908) * Walter C. Fox (1908 - ?) *

John J. Tigert John James Tigert IV (February 11, 1882 – January 21, 1965) was an American university president, university professor and administrator, college sports coach and the U.S. Commissioner of Education. Tigert was a native of Tennessee and the s ...

(? - 1915, 1916–1917) * William Tuttle (1915–1916) * Jim Park (1917–1918) * Andy Gill (1918–1919) *

Sarah Blanding Sarah Gibson Blanding (November 22, 1898 – March 3, 1985) was an American educator and academic administrator who served as Vassar College's sixth president (1946–1964) and its first female president. A strong public advocate, she worke ...

(1919–1922) *

Happy Chandler Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler Sr. (July 14, 1898 – June 15, 1991) was an American politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also ...

(1922–1923) * Bart Peak (1923–1924) * Sue Feamster (1974–76) *

Debbie Yow Deborah Ann Yow (born September 1, 1950Debbie Yow Is ...

(1976–80) * Terry Hall (1980–87) *

Sharon Fanning Sharon Cable Fanning-Otis (born December 15, 1954) is the former women's basketball program head coach at Mississippi State. During her 17-year head coach career with the Bulldogs, then team had a 281–232 (.548) record. During her tenure, she po ...

(1987–95) *

Bernadette Locke-Mattox Bernadette Locke-Mattox (born December 31, 1958) is a former head coach of the University of Kentucky women's basketball team. While at Kentucky in 1990, she became the first female to serve as assistant coach for a men's NCAA Division I basketball ...

(1995–2003) * Mickie DeMoss (2003–2007) * Matthew Mitchell (2007–2020) * Kyra Elzy (2020–present)

Year by year results

Year Record Coach 1903 1-0 Jane Todd Walton 1904 2-0 C.P. St. John 1905 Unknown 1906 0-1 Thomson Bryant 1907 No Games Thomson Bryant 1908 3-0-1 C.W. Leaphart 1908–09 4-1 Walter C. Fox 1909–10 7-1 No Coach Listed 1910–11 No Record 1911–12 4-1 J.J. Tigert 1912–13 5-0 J.J. Tigert (State Champions) 1913–14 4-2 J.J. Tigert 1914–15 5-1 J.J. Tigert 1915–16 2-2 William Tuttle 1916–17 5-0 J.J. Tigert 1917–18 1-4 Jim Park 1918–19 2-0 Andy Gill 1919–20 0-3-1 Sarah Blanding 1920–21 1-7 Sarah Blanding 1921–22 2-4 Sarah Blanding 1922–23 7-3 A.B. "Happy" Chandler 1923–24 10-0 Bart Peak (Champions of the South) Total: 65-30-1 Conference tournament winners noted with W Source

NCAA tournament results

Accomplishments

2009–10

* SEC Player of the Year (consensus):

Victoria Dunlap Victoria Dunlap (born September 19, 1989 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a basketball player who most recently played for the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association. She had previously played at the University of Kentucky. Ken ...

* SEC Freshman of the Year: A'dia Mathies * SEC Coach of the Year: Matthew Mitchell

2010–11

* SEC Player of the Year (AP): Victoria Dunlap * SEC Defensive Player of the Year: Victoria Dunlap

2011–12

* SEC Player of the Year (consensus): A'dia Mathies * SEC Freshman of the Year (consensus): Bria Goss * SEC Sixth Woman of the Year (shared; awarded only by coaches): Keyla Snowden * SEC Coach of the Year (AP): Matthew Mitchell

2012–13

* A'dia Mathies Drafted in the First Round of the 2013 WNBA draft * SEC Co-Player of the Year : A'dia Mathies

2018–19

* USBWA National Freshman of the Year: Rhyne Howard

2019–20

* SEC Player of the Year (consensus): Rhyne Howard

All-American players

, 1983 (Coaches; Street & Smith) *

, 2010 (AP; USBWA; Coaches') *

A'dia Mathies A'dia Mathies (born May 18, 1991) is an American professional basketball player, who was drafted in 2013 by the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. Mathies is a guard, and played her college ball at the University of Kentucky.Rhyne Howard Rhyne Howard (born April 29, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. She graduated from Bradley Ce ...

, 2020 (AP, USBWA)

Player awards

SEC Awards

* Player of the Year :

- 2010, 2011 :

– 2020 , 2021

References

External links

* {{Southeastern Conference women's basketball navbox Women's sports in Kentucky 1902 establishments in Kentucky 1924 disestablishments in Kentucky 1974 establishments in Kentucky