SEC Tournament: UK women cruise past Florida 92-69

It was supposed to be a close one, just like all Florida-Kentucky games tend to be.

Each of the last 10 contests in this rivalry had been decided by 10 points or less.

But not this one. Not this time.

After falling behind by double digits in the first quarter of the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals, the No. 13 Cats roared back, demolishing No. 25 Florida 92-69 on Friday.

“We were really tough today,” Coach Matthew Mitchell said after UK’s eighth straight win. “We tried to make the game about that.”

The Cats are going to need that toughness and more in Saturday night’s semifinals when they face third-ranked South Carolina at Veterans Memorial Arena. The defending SEC champions have beaten Kentucky both times they’ve played this season.

But first, Kentucky (23-6) had to get past Florida, a team that had knocked off the Cats just a few weeks before by outhustling UK and forcing it into a season-high 30 turnovers in Gainesville.

It looked like much of the same in the first quarter on Friday as the Gators made five of their first eight shots and jumped out to a 16-6 lead.

The Cats looked lost in the first quarter, scoring their fewest points of the season (nine), before scoring 33 in the second quarter, their most in a quarter this season.

“Played a great first quarter, then that was pretty much it,” Florida Coach Amanda Butler said. “But you have to give Kentucky a lot of credit. They took it personal, I think, not being in the top-four seeds, and really played like a great postseason team.”

In the second quarter, Kentucky did what it does best — play defense and score in transition — hitting 66.7 percent of its shots and making four three-pointers, three by Janee Thompson.

The senior guard scored 13 points in the pivotal second quarter and was one of five UK starters to score in double figures with 19 points and four assists.

Thompson’s play got everyone else going as all five starters scored in double figures. The Cats’ 92 points were their most against an SEC opponent this season.

“We wanted to attack and score,” Mitchell said. “We did not want to just break the press, we wanted to try to attack and score. I thought we did a fantastic job of that.”

On a sore knee, Makayla Epps finished with a game-high 22 points and added seven assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

“Great guard duo,” Butler said. “Epps is clearly one of the best players in this league. I think they all draw confidence from her. Janee is a very good player as well. You have to guard them, take them out of their comfort zones. We didn’t do a very good job of that.”

Kentucky freshman forward Batouly Camara scored 12 points — just her third double-figure game of the season — and grabbed five rebounds. Evelyn Akhator added her fifth double-double in six games with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Maci Morris had 10 points and five rebounds, and Alyssa Rice added eight points and nine rebounds for UK, which outrebounded the Gators 51-34.

The second quarter was all about defense, Epps said.

“We just got going and everybody was getting excited for each other and we were getting big stops on defense,” the junior guard said. “Our defense played a huge factor in the second quarter.”

Kentucky missed 14 of its first 16 shots and fell behind by as many as 10 points. The Gators made five of their first eight, including four three-pointers.

With his team getting good looks that just weren’t falling, Mitchell reminded the players that they’d had to work through hardships all season. This was just the latest one.

“It’s something that we talk about and we try to practice every day,” the coach said. “We try to be people that are resilient. I think that’s an important quality for all of them to have as basketball players and people as they move on.”

Then the tide turned and UK made 14 of its next 21 shots to close out the first half on a 23-6 run.

After trailing 42-29 at the break, Florida got within eight points before UK continued to run at the Gators in waves. Kentucky extended the lead to as many as 28 points.

The Gators (22-8) were led by Carlie Needles’ 15 points, all on three-pointers. Eleanna Christinaki added 12 points.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "SEC Tournament: UK women cruise past Florida 92-69."