The Auburn women's basketball team (13-8, 6-2 SEC) will face one of its toughest challenges of the season Feb. 3 when they play against the Kentucky Wildcats (17-4, 6-2 SEC) in Lexington, Ky.
While the Tigers have won nine of their last 11 games, the Wildcats have been playing some of their best basketball all season and have won six straight, including wins over the Florida Gators and Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Wildcats also easily handled the South Carolina Gamecocks who gave the Tigers trouble Sunday, although the Auburn women ended with a 54-47 victory.
The game will be pivotal in SEC play. Both the Tigers and the Wildcats are two-and-a-half games behind the conference leaders, Tennessee's Lady Vols.
The victor will hold sole possession of third place behind the Lady Vols and the Georgia Bulldogs.
"Kentucky is a really tough, physical team," said sophomore Morgan Toles, fourth on the team in scoring with 190 points and team leader in assists with 115 on the season.
The pressure of playing Kentucky in their own house only adds to the difficulty.
"They have great fan support," said head coach Nell Fortner.
The Wildcats have done well defending their home turf, going 10-1 at home so far this season. Despite the huge home advantage, the Tigers have not played poorly on the road and are 4-2 in their six away games this season.
On paper, the Tigers are outmatched on both offense and defense.
The Tigers are averaging 64.9 points each game, but that might not be enough to top the Wildcats, who are averaging 74.8 points each game.
Alley Smalley, the Tigers' leading scorer, manages 11.8 points per game while Blanche Alverson, the team's second leading scorer, averages 11.5 points per game.
The game will take place in Rupp arena and tip-off will be at 6 p.m.
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