For a while there, it looked bleak for the UK women. Then Taylor Murray happened.
After playing 38 minutes in a top-25 battle against Missouri, Taylor Murray seems good to go after dealing with a deep knee bruise the last few games.
Her back might need some treatment now though, because she flat carried No. 15 Kentucky in the second half Thursday night at Memorial Coliseum to help propel the Cats to a 52-41 win over No. 25 Missouri.
“I was 1-for-2 in the first and second quarter, so I needed to give my team some spark,” Murray said matter-of-factly in her quiet, humble tone after the game. “And I was able to do that for us.”
With the Cats trailing 21-18 at half and shooting only 28 percent from the field, Murray ignited, scoring six straight points out of the break to push the Cats to their first lead, 24-21, prompting a Missouri timeout.
Her first bucket of the half came off a steal at the top of the key that she converted into a fast-break layup before the Tigers knew what hit them.
“We talked about how we need to be more disruptive and we needed to make something happen with our defense, because they were packing that lane and making it tough to score around the basket,” UK Coach Matthew Mitchell said of his halftime talk. “(Taylor’s) ability to force some turnovers high on the floor … really sparked our team.”
Murray relentlessly went at the Missouri defense, outscoring the Tigers by herself, 13-7, in the third period as she exploited switches and finished tough drives with layups.
“They try to bait you into taking some 15-footers, and you just have to have the patience and the grit just to continue to drive the ball,” Mitchell said. “Those early plays from her where she just kept driving to the basket were so important for our team.”
Kentucky’s other two leading scorers, Rhyne Howard and Maci Morris, struggled offensively, scoring only four points each. For Howard, it was her first game back after sitting out against LSU under the concussion protocol for a knock she took in practice last week. Morris has also been dealing with knee pain that kept her out of the loss to Mississippi.
But both also had the difficulty of being the primary offensive and defensive assignment of Mizzou’s leading scorer Sophie Cunningham. The 6-1 guard, with her signature shorts tucked into her compression gear, torched UK for 11 points in the first half as Missouri jumped out to as much as a seven point lead in the second quarter.
But Missouri’s touch faded as the game wore on and their 20 turnovers and Kentucky’s second-chance points began to take a toll. Kentucky outrebounded Missouri 37-25 and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds. Those helped lead to 17 second-chance points for the Cats. Cunningham cooled off, finishing with a team-high 17 points.
That proved the difference as Missouri cut UK’s lead to 45-40 midway through the fourth quarter. After a couple of empty possessions, Tatyana Wyatt gathered her own miss and put it back for a 47-40 lead with 3:27 left in the game. Wyatt finished with 11 points. UK’s next score came off a Murray miss and putback to make it 49-40 with 1:46 left and essentially end the Missouri threat.
“I would have still thought going into tonight if we could hold them to 52, we had a really good shot (to win),” Missouri Coach Robin Pingeton said. “But Kentucky’s a really good team and you’ve got to bring your A game for 40 minutes. That didn’t happen tonight for us.”
Next game
No. 15 Kentucky at No. 24 Texas A&M
When: 5 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network)