Connect with us

Other Sports

Cassidy Rowe Retires from Basketball After Reportedly Having Scholarship Revoked from Kentucky

Published

on

Kentucky native and Kentucky women's guard Cassidy Rowe transfer
IMAGN

Kentucky’s Cassidy Rowe grew up just over 100 miles away, southeast of Lexington. Recruited by former Head Coach Matthew Mitchell, Rowe, like any kid’s dream near Lexington, committed to Kentucky as a freshman in high school. 

Battling countless injuries before her college career and coming to Lexington under another new head coach, this time Kyra Elzy, Rowe’s journey was far from easy.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end for Rowe, as she battled through two underwhelming seasons with the Wildcats, where they only won 12 games in both years. 

Every single player from the 2023-24 team, besides Rowe and Saniah Tyler, either entered the portal or graduated. 

Advertisement

However, when Rowe said, “I’m a Kentucky girl through and through,” she meant it.

When Kenny Brooks arrived on campus last spring, he said that Rowe cried “blue tears” when meeting with her. “When she started talking about her experiences here, I swore when she started crying, it was blue tears,” he told Phoenix Stevens. “I’m like, man, this kid had me — she had me at hello just because she knew how much she loved Kentucky.”

She decided to return to Kentucky for her junior season under Head Coach Kenny Brooks, and needless to say, Rowe was a part of a historic season. They ranked as high as No.8 in the AP women’s basketball poll, finished fourth in the SEC with a 23-8 record, and broke 11 school records.

Even though Rowe’s playing time decreased drastically this season, only eclipsing ten or more minutes one time once conference play started, she became a resembling fan favorite that many saw as “one of the ones to stick it out” and truly bleed Kentucky blue. 

Advertisement

It shocked many when Rowe took to her Instagram to post news that she would be transferring on March 29th.

“Wow…I wasn’t expecting this to be a goodbye post,” Rowe said. “While I still have a year of eligibility left, I will not be entering the transfer portal. I will be pursuing my new dream of becoming a physical therapist through UK’s DPT program.”

Tonia Witt of Rise Up Sports Media broke the news of Rowe’s decision, which correlated with the Kentucky native’s Instagram post. 

However, as passionate as Kentucky fans are, many took to social media to question the shocking news as Rowe’s love for the program was clear, and she had just one year remaining.

Advertisement

Witt ended the debate on the morning of March 30th, stating that Rowe was told her scholarship would not be available for the 2025-26 season, not that she was told to transfer. 

Rowe’s father, Lonnie Rowe, would repost these to his personal social media, while also reposting a post from Alyx White stating that the fans stating Rowe didn’t deserve a roster spot clearly hadn’t seen Rowe play.

Rise Up Sports has offered an opportunity for fans to send Rowe mail and flood her with positive vibes.

Advertisement

Other Sports

Tonie Morgan Breaks Assist Record, No. 18 Kentucky Back in Win Column

Published

on

By

Morgan Simmons | UK Athletics

The No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats (19-7, 6-6 SEC) put away Texas A&M (9-11, 2-9 SEC) in one of the most dominating conference wins UK has had this season, winning 75-55 on Thursday, Feb. 12.

The Wildcats, before the dominant win in Historic Memorial Coliseum, had dropped three straight losses in a row, two to top 10 opponents.

Tonie Morgan Makes History

The long and overdue victory wasn’t the only reason for celebration for blue and white fans, as in the first quarter of the game point guard Tonie Morgan dished away five assists, breaking the all-time Kentuckys women’s basketball single-season assist record.

Advertisement

The record now stands with Morgan at an impressive 218 assists.

The previous record was held for just one year by Georgia Amoore, who set the record in her sole season wearing Kentucky blue.

Morgan finished with 19 points and 8 assists, and one of the nation’s top assist per game leaders now has four games to add on to her new record.

A Cautious Future

With only four games left in the season, it’s of the utmost importance that the Wildcats play smart and grind for every win they can.

Advertisement

No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 5 Vanderbilt and No. 3 South Carolina, could all very well defeat Kentucky, making this final stretch telling of what the Wildcats’ postseason expectations will look like.

Arguably, the most important precaution for Kentucky is to make sure its players recover. Clara Strack, in particular, who in the win versus Texas A&M went down in the first quarter with a left knee injury, is someone who needs to be taken care of.

Strack came back just a few minutes after checking out and played the rest of the game, but you can never be too cautious.

Losing your star center due to fatigue or injury is something that can derail the postseason plans.

Advertisement

Up next for the Wildcats is a home game against No. 14 Ole Miss (20-5, 7-3 SEC) on Sunday, Feb. 15. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET inside Historic Memorial Coliseum and the game will also be streaming on SEC Network.

KY Insider will be there for in-game coverage.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Other Sports

No. 18 Kentucky Suffers Second Straight Loss to Top Ten Opponent

Published

on

By

Morgan Simmons | UK Athletics

The No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats (18-7, 5-6 SEC) are off to a rough start in the month of February, losing on Monday, Feb. 9 against No. 4 Texas (23-2, 8-2 SEC) by a score of 64-53.

Kentucky has now lost five of its last six games, including three ranked losses against No. 17 Tennessee, No. 7 Vanderbilt and now No. 4 Texas.

Loss in Austin

Yet again, the Wildcats had a night where nobody could successfully play their role.

Advertisement

Tonie Morgan finished with 12 points and four assists, yet tied Teonni Key for a team-high six turnovers.

Morgan would go the entire second half without an assist, a feat she has only done a handful of times throughout her college career. However, the blame in basketball never falls on just one person alone

Jordan Obi had zero points on Monday, and in her 28 minutes of play, her biggest contribution to the team was four rebounds. Obi has been in a slump for a few nights now, only recording seven points in the last three games combined.

When looking at the front court, Key recorded an eight-point and three-rebound game and star Clara Strack only had 14 points and seven rebounds on the night. All of these numbers are well below both their averages.

Advertisement

To round out the subpar team performance, Amelia Hassett got her only three points from a made three in the first quarter, not scoring again in Austin.

The only bright spot for the Wildcats was Asia Boone, who shot 4-6 from three-point territory, finishing with a team-high 16 points. Boone was the Cats’ save and grace as she was the only one in blue and white to record any points in the second quarter.

Moving Forward

Kentucky can likely kiss any chance at a double-bye goodbye after this performance. For both the SEC Tournament and March Madness, the Wildcats have very little room for error if they want favorable seeding.

To get those seeds, they will have to have dominant wins in these last five games of the season, with matchups against No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 5 Vanderbilt and No. 3 South Carolina coming up.

Advertisement

Now, the Big Blue Nation will watch as the countdown to tournament time inches clo

The Wildcats next matchup is against Texas A&M on Thursday Feb. 12th at 6:30 p.m. inside Historic Memorial Coliseum streaming on SEC Network

Advertisement
Continue Reading

FB Recruiting

Nick Mingione “Has a Plan” for Matt Ponatoski, Discusses Working With Two Sports

Published

on

Imagn Images


Media Day was held for No. 18 Kentucky Baseball on Tuesday, Feb. 3, and head coach Nick Mingione was highly optimistic for his 10th Wildcats team and their developments throughout the offseason.

The 2x SEC Coach of the Year discussed managing the tough ask of acquiring a top 25 recruiting class and a top 10 portal class, his pride and appreciation for BBN – as he glosses over some of the other successful head coaches in Lexington and MLB prospect Tyler Bell improving as a player more than anybody thought he would.

One of the bigger topics that came around during Mingione’s press conference was about incoming freshman Matt Ponatoski, a two-sport star from Archbishop Moeller in Cincinnati, OH, who was praised heavily as both a quarterback, a pitcher, and a hitter during his recruiting stages.

Advertisement

You rarely see young athletes succeed in multiple sports the way Ponatoski did, but as he picked up Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year in both football and baseball during his junior year, Kentucky took the chance and brought him in under two coaches.

It’s hard enough for a young athlete coming into college to accept the pressure of two SEC-team workloads, but what about the coaches who have to work with him?

Fortunately, Mingione and the newly hired Will Stein (who recruited Ponatoski during his time at Oregon) look to be working together diligently to make sure the dual prospect succeeds in every position he plays.

“You just have to take your daddy goggles off or your mommy goggles off and just ask some people that you trust,” Mingione said. “The game of baseball and football has not told Matt Ponatoski to stop playing one or the other.”

Advertisement

Kentucky opens its season with three games in three days at UNC Greensboro. The first matchup is stamped for Friday, Feb. 13 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Continue Reading

Trending