DeMoss' effort has Wildcats in NCAA tournament

3/16/2006 2:09 AM

Mickie DeMoss was used to being a winner while serving as an assistant coach to Tennessee's Pat Summitt.

DeMoss now is building her own winning foundation at Kentucky, which makes its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1999 in a first-round game Saturday against Chattanooga at the Allstate Arena in Chicago as part of the Bridgeport Regional.

DeMoss was a long-time assistant at Tennessee, where she was part of 13 Final Four and six NCAA Women's tournament champion teams. She left Knoxville for Lexington in 2003, and in three seasons, has quickly turned around the fifth-seeded Wildcats (21-8), who finished fourth in the highly competitive Southeastern Conference and reached the semifinals of that conference's tournament.

``I didn't have an exact time-frame. You have to take it one year at a time,'' DeMoss said. ``I think the one thing that really boosted our confidence was the WNIT run last year. I think that kind of propelled us a little bit, and gave these young players some confidence.

``They got a taste of what the postseason is like and it has really built on that.''

Kentucky will try to use its height advantage in the frontcourt with sophomore center Sarah Elliott and senior forward Jennifer Humphrey. The 6-6 Elliott averaged 10.9 points and 5.7 rebounds while the 6-3 Humphrey contributed 6.0 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard Samantha Mahoney lead the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game, and junior Jenny Pfeiffer and freshman Carly Ormerod combined to make 98 3-pointers.

Chattanooga (27-3) carries a 26-game winning streak into this game and went undefeated in the Southern Conference for the second time in three years en route to capturing the regular-season and tournament titles.

The 12th-seeded Lady Mocs also are a year wiser and stronger after having their 2004-05 season ended by the Wildcats.

``We played Kentucky in the WNIT last year,'' Lady Mocs coach Wes Moore said of a 91-54 rout last season. ``It will be interesting to see if we can do a little bit better job this year.''

Tiffani Robertson is one of four players in double figures, averaging a team-best 13.9 points.

Chattanooga set a Southern Conference record with 245 3-pointers and averaged 8.2 3-pointers, good for second in the nation. Brooke Hand, who averaged 10.9 points, made a team-best 82 shots from beyond the arc.

The Lady Mocs are 1-6 all-time in the NCAA Women's tournament, but their lone win came in a first-round upset of Rutgers in 2004.

The winner of this game will play either No. 4 seed Michigan State or 13th-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the second round Monday.