No. 11 Kentucky storms back, sputters late to fall to No. 19 Texas A&M in home finale
Two teams stepped into Memorial Coliseum Thursday night with a chance to lock up a coveted top-four seed in the next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Early on, only one of them looked ready for the moment.
It wasn’t Kentucky.
But the Cats made a game of it after trailing by as many as 15 points in the first half, even taking the lead twice, but UK couldn’t sustain enough momentum in the second half to get the win, falling 62-55 to No. 19 Texas A&M.
No. 11 Kentucky will need to beat Georgia in Athens on Sunday to get the SEC tournament’s double-bye.
“Our team definitely gave a lot of physical effort tonight, I just don’t think we were sharp enough mentally,” UK Coach Matthew Mitchell said. “We really needed to do some things well from an execution standpoint to combat Texas A&M.”
Chennedy Carter led three players in double figures for Texas A&M with 24 points. Ciera Johnson had 16 points and 13 rebounds, Kayla Wells added 14 points and N’dea Jones grabbed 12 rebounds to go with seven points, four in a key stretch in the third period.
For the Cats, Maci Morris had 11 points and Tatyana Wyatt added 10. Freshman Rhyne Howard, limited by foul trouble in the second half, was held to nine points and three rebounds, never really getting on track. She picked up her fourth foul barely a minute into the fourth period and had to sit out and watch A&M break the margin back open.
“We tried to come back, but we missed a couple opportunities to score and that was pretty much it,” Morris said. It was her final regular season home game in a Kentucky uniform, along with fellow senior starter Taylor Murray.
“I would have liked to have gotten a win, but it is what it is.,” Morris said, shrugging off the loss.
Kentucky mounted a furious rally in the second quarter after a lifeless opening frame that helped the Aggies go up double digits. The Cats picked up the defensive intensity, forcing seven turnovers, and began asserting themselves on the glass, matching the taller Aggies board-for-board.
The renewed spirit sparked a 12-0 UK run capped by a tough Amanda Paschal drive and foul that brought the Cats within 22-19 at the 4:19 mark. The rally included five points from Howard (a three and a two), who had been stifled in the first.
Kentucky tied it at 25 moments later on a Paschal jumper. A KeKe McKinney free throw gave UK one of its two leads with 1:24 left in the first half. But Texas A&M settled down to take a 28-26 lead at halftime on a pair of free throws by Johnson.
At the outset, nothing went right for the Cats. They were held to just 3-of-13 shooting, including 0-for-5 from three-point range, in the first. Those shooting woes resurfaced late in the third quarter and lingered in the fourth as UK failed to answer A&M’s resolve to get the ball in the paint. And UK’s determination on the boards in the second period didn’t hold as A&M won that battle, 47-28.
After exchanging buckets and the lead for several minutes to open the second half, Paschal’s missed jumper down 42-41 with 3:05 left in the third broke UK’s momentum. The Cats missed five of their next six shots as Texas A&M built the lead back to 51-44 at the final break.
“Give Texas A&M a ton of credit … at all the crucial moments from the very beginning of the game to anytime it was a really important time to play, they just found a way to play some excellent basketball,” Mitchell said.
In the fourth, Wyatt’s jumper brought Kentucky within one point with 6:16 left in the game. But that would be as close as the Cats would get. Carter reeled off six unanswered points to stretch the Aggies’ advantage back to seven and UK couldn’t get enough makes and turnovers to get back in it.
Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair credited Carter for settling the Aggies down after Kentucky rallied and got the 4,532 fans into it. He dubber Carter the team’s “grandma-ma” for her leadership and wisdom. It also helps that she’s “the most explosive guard in the country. Period,” Blair said.
Next game
No. 11 Kentucky at Georgia
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 9:49 PM.
