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COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEW 2008
Dunlap, Smith lead UK women's basketball
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Southeastern Conference rising stars Victoria Dunlap and Amber Smith lead the Kentucky women's team.
Kentucky, 17-16 last season, went to the WNIT and won two games before losing a five-point decision to Marquette in the quarterfinals. SEC media members predicted the Wildcats for a seventh-place finish in their preseason poll.
Dunlap and Smith were members of last season's SEC All-Freshman Team.
The 6-foot-1 Dunlap, a sophomore forward, averaged 7.3 points and 6.9 rebounds. She also had 43 steals and 25 blocked shots. Smith is a 5-5 sophomore guard who averaged 6.7 points and 2.8 assists. Smith suffered a knee injury and played in only 21 games.
Amani Franklin is a 5-11 junior guard who scored 6.5 points per game as a part-time starter. Six-foot-one junior Lydia Watkins put up 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds a game.
Senior Carly Ormerod (5.3 ppg, 1.5 assists) has has started 71 of 81 career games at point guard. Catina Bett (1.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg), a 6-5 sophomore, is a former Alabama Class 6A high school player of the year.
Newcomer Jackie Sanders was rated as the No. 6 overall prospect and as the top-ranked junior college power forward by All-Star Girls Report. The 6-2 Sanders averaged 11.3 points and 7.7 rebounds on a Gulf Coast Community College national championship team.
The Wildcats have two other transfers sitting out -- guard Kayla Snowden (Akron) and guard Rebecca Gray (North Carolina).
