UK Women Come Up Short in Battle with South Carolina
By Victor McKay
Lexington, KY – The University of Kentucky Women’s basketball team played host to the number one team in the country Sunday afternoon in front of packed Memorial Coliseum. At first, Kentucky looked like a team determined to pull off the upset, but the Gamecocks quickly showed why they’re ranked No# 1 in defeating Kentucky 67-58.
UK outscored South Carolina 44-40 the last three quarters of play but a first quarter run of 27-14 ended up being just toomuch for the Wildcats to overcome.
Facing one of the nation’s best defensive teams, Kentucky struggled on offense in Sunday’s contest. The Wildcats made 16 of 54 (29.6 percent) of its shots from the field, including six of 15 (40 percent) from beyond the arc.
Kentucky (20-6, 9-5 SEC) turned the ball over 12 times and forced 12 turnovers in the game.
The Gamecocks (27-1, 14-0 SEC) took advantage of their size inside the paint outscoring Kentucky 38-14 on the day.
UK’s Rhyne Howard was pressured the entire game and struggled from the field hitting only 5 of 22. She still managed to lead all scorers with 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.She was the only Wildcat to score in double figures.
As for South Carolina, the win placed them back on top of the SEC, clinching the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The win also gave South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley her 300th win in 12 seasons as the Gamecock’s head coach.
Kentucky returns to action on Thursday, hosting Georgia at Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.
Scoring:
Kentucky – 14 – 16 – 13 – 15 – 58
South Carolina – 27 – 13 – 19 – 8 – 67
Kentucky – Howard 24, Wyatt 2, Haines 3, Paschal 4, Roper 7, McKinney 9, Anyagaligbo 5, Cole 4
South Carolina – Boston 6, Harrigan 10, Cooke 20, Beal 4, Harris 10, Grissett 10, Henderson 7
