Upstart Washington upsets UK women to advance to Elite Eight

The NCAA Tournament found its Cinderella.

But she’s wearing combat boots — not glass slippers — while stomping out higher seeds on her way to the Elite Eight.

On Monday, No. 7 seed Washington upset second-seeded Maryland on its home floor, and then on Friday night, No. 3 seed Kentucky was the latest victim, falling 85-72 at Rupp Arena.

The Huskies got dominant performances from their three best players and used a monster third quarter, hitting 63.2 percent, to take a game within UK’s reach and put it out of reach.

“This is the first time all three of them have played that well on the same night,” Coach Mike Neighbors said of Chantel Osahor, Talia Walton and Kelsey Plum, who combined to score 72 of Washington’s 85 points. “That’s what you’re supposed to do when it gets to this point.”

Often Neighbors has been asked about his short rotation, which on Friday night included playing four players 32 minutes, and he just shrugs.

“Would y’all sub?” the coach asked in the postgame news conference. “If you’ve got a team that clicks like that team does, you don’t disrupt that.”

It seemed only fitting that Washington’s pivotal third quarter ended on a three-pointer at the buzzer from Osahor.

The 6-foot-2 junior, who matched her career high with four made threes, had 19 points and 17 rebounds.

Osahor was joined by Walton, who led the Huskies with 30 points. Washington scoring star Plum added 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

“It’s hard to guard us and play against us,” Walton said. “So we just try to stay in attack mode and keep each other going.”

So much of UK’s defensive focus was on stopping Plum, one of the nation’s top five scorers, that the others slipped out and made big shot after big shot.

“They really stepped up for their team and made plays every time Washington needed something,” Kentucky guard Janee Thompson said of Walton and Osahor.

Coach Matthew Mitchell wasn’t pleased with Kentucky’s defensive effort, which included allowing Washington to hit 59.4 percent of its shots in the second half and 49.3 percent for the game.

“We were uncharacteristically out of position defensively tonight and they took advantage of it and put their head down and drove the ball,” he said.

Between missed shots from close range and misses defensively, so much of the game was lost on toughness plays, said Makayla Epps, who had a season-best 30 points, five rebounds and four assists for Kentucky.

“Washington had moments where they out-toughed us,” said Epps, who put up those numbers despite a sore shooting shoulder. “I just hope we can look ourselves in the mirror and just learn from it.”

Kentucky (25-8) scored eight straight late in the fourth quarter to pull within eight points, 74-66, but Plum hit a three-point dagger to end any hopes of a Cats comeback.

“They made tough shots and big shots and really, really impressed with their performance tonight,” Mitchell continued.

It was about as bad of a start as Kentucky could ask for at home in the NCAA Tournament. The Cats fell behind by as many as 13 points early, their largest deficit in a first half this season. Their previous largest deficit in a half was 12 points at Arizona State.

Kentucky got there with some uncharacteristically terrible shooting, missing 16 of its first 19 shot attempts.

In one three-minute span between the first two quarters, the Huskies (25-10) made six of seven shots, including five three-pointers. An Osahor jumper with 5:17 before the half gave Washington its largest lead.

Then UK stormed back with a 10-2 run to end the half trailing the Huskies 35-30. Four different players scored in that spree.

Two UK post players finished with double-doubles, Alexis Jennings’ 12 points and 10 rebounds and Evelyn Akhator’s 10 points and 14 boards, but it wasn’t enough.

“We got a ton more shots,” Mitchell said of the 80 to 67 shot differential that favored the Cats. “We just kept working and battling, and the ball just would not go through the hoop for us so many times.”

And when it didn’t go through the hoop, more often than not Osahor was there to grab it, getting 17 rebounds, all on the defensive end. UK managed just 13 offensive rebounds in the game, just five in the second half.

“We would have loved to have done better,” Mitchell said afterward, after he walked off the court for the final time with the team’s lone senior, Thompson. “We had some opportunities in the game, and so you just don’t ever want it to end. You want to win the last game, and that was our goal with this team.”

Despite the loss and those missed opportunities, Mitchell called this season one of the greatest experiences of his coaching career.

“The disappointment of this one game just cannot diminish how proud I am of our team,” Mitchell said. “We would love to have advanced further. But it doesn’t take away of how proud I am of our players.”

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 9:10 PM with the headline "Upstart Washington upsets UK women to advance to Elite Eight."