‘We’re a happy bunch of Wildcats tonight.’ Senior Night win important and emotional.
The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team earned a crucial win Thursday, knocking off Georgia 88-77 in Memorial Coliseum on Senior Night to keep pace in the all-important chase for a top-four seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Fittingly, UK’s seniors played a major role in the victory.
Sophomore star Rhyne Howard led the way, scoring a game-high 25 points and taking over in the fourth quarter to add the finishing touches. But Howard had a ton of help from seniors Ogechi Anyagaligbo, Jaida Roper and Sabrina Haines.
Prior to tip-off, Kentucky (21-6, 10-5 SEC) staged a ceremony honoring the program’s five seniors: Haines, Roper and Anyagaligbo started the game while Amanda Paschal and Nae Nae Cole came off the bench.
“All wins this time of year are outstanding and great, but this one’s just a little extra special with it being Senior Night,” said UK Coach Matthew Mitchell. “And wow, did the seniors step up in a major, major way ... We needed the win badly and we certainly wanted to send them out on Senior Night with a victory. We’re a happy bunch of Wildcats tonight.”
Haines pitched in 15 points — two shy of her career high — and four assists.
“So happy for Sabrina, she really came out on a mission tonight,” said Mitchell. “Sabrina goes down and makes an incredible steal and then a more incredible pass to Rhyne, and I really thought that was where we were able to finally plant the flag in the ground that we were winning this game.”
Haines, who transferred from Arizona State and practiced with the team last season while sitting out, said after Thursday’s win that finishing her college career as a Wildcat was the right call.
“Coming to Kentucky was probably the best decision that I could have ever made,” she said. “I’m just so thankful for everybody taking me in ... It’s just been an amazing experience.”
Roper scored 14 points to go along with five assists, knocking down all 11 of her free-throw shots.
Roper signed with the Cats in 2016 at a time when the program was reeling because of player transfers and the de-commitment of multiple recruits. After Thursday’s game, Mitchell was asked what she has meant to the team over the last four years.
“We would be here all night if I fully explained that,” Mitchell said. “She signed in that spring of 2016 and just believed in what she could get done here and believed in what we were doing here. It was at a time when we needed her ... She’s squeezed every single bit out of this opportunity and she’s playing at a really high level.”
Anyagaligbo got the Cats off on the right foot against the Bulldogs, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds early in the first quarter. She finished with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Paschal had four points and four rebounds off the bench, while Cole was limited to five minutes because of foul trouble.
Howard has clearly adjusted to the cumbersome splint protecting her injured left pinkie. She hit her first four three-pointers of the game and scored 12 in the first half, helping the Wildcats build a 14-point second-quarter lead before heading to the bench after picking up her second foul.
Georgia (15-13, 6-9) closed the gap in Howard’s absence, ending the second quarter on a 9-2 run to pull within 53-46 at halftime. Howard scored 13 in the fourth quarter as the Cats pulled away.
“She was fantastic,” Mitchell said of Howard’s effort against the Bulldogs. “That fourth quarter was just incredible. We’re all getting used to seeing those kind of performances. She’s an unbelievable player.”
The SEC race
After Thursday’s games, the 15th-ranked Wildcats are tied with Texas A&M for third place in the SEC. UK owns the tiebreaker over the Aggies thanks to a 22-point victory when the teams met in Lexington in mid-January. The top four finishers in the SEC standings earn double byes into the quarterfinals of next week’s conference tournament.
Mitchell said securing one of those spots is critical to the Cats’ postseason plans.
“It’s huge, because we want to go win the SEC Tournament. That’s one of the goals before the season starts,” Mitchell said. “It’s a very valuable prize to earn to get there. We’ve been thinking about it a lot. We wanted this game badly not only for our seniors but for positioning. It was critical that we got the win tonight.”
View the SEC Tournament bracket.
Next game
No. 15 Kentucky at Vanderbilt
2:05 p.m. Sunday
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 7:33 AM.
