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The status of Kentucky center Sarah Elliott has been downgraded to "very doubtful" for Thursday's women's basketball game against Tennessee because of a knee injury, Wildcats coach Matthew Mitchell said Tuesday.

The initial report was that the 6-foot-6 Elliott suffered no structural damage when she went down in the second half Sunday against Mississippi State and that she should be able to play against Tennessee. Mitchell offered a different outlook, however. He thinks Elliott could miss as many as two games.

"I don't know how much she can improve in the next couple of days,'' Mitchell said. "She hyperextended it. When that happens, that injury is usually a week for her. It's very sore."

Elliott is Kentucky's second-leading scorer at 11.1 points per game. She and Victoria Dunlap are the team's top rebounders at 6.4 per game.

For Tennessee, freshman Vicki Baugh returned to practice Tuesday, the day after tweaking the iliotibial band of her left leg. Senior guard Alexis Hornbuckle, meanwhile, sat out the practice for personal reasons. She was stretched out on the sideline, wearing a heat pack on her lower back. Jenny Moshak, the Lady Vols assistant athletic director for sports medicine, said that she's optimistic Hornbuckle will be ready for Thursday.

Notebook: Mitchell said a "scheduling snafu" prevented Thursday's game from being slated for Rupp Arena, rather than Memorial Coliseum. Mitchell said Rupp officials couldn't wait on the release of the conference schedule and booked a multi-day event.

"We would've loved playing the game at Rupp,'' Mitchell said.

In the future, a date at Rupp will be set aside in advance for the Tennessee game.

A school-record 13,689 fans attended Kentucky's upset of then-No.1 UT, 66-63, at Rupp on Jan. 26, 2006.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.