Kentucky women’s team back in top 10 after defeating two top-15 foes
A pair of victories against top-15 teams helped the Kentucky women’s basketball team move back into the top 10 in this week’s Associated Press poll, which was released Monday afternoon.
UK, which moved up three spots from 13th to 10th, is 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference after defeating then-No. 10 Arkansas (75-64) on Thursday and then-No. 12 Mississippi State in overtime (92-86) on Sunday.
Star forward Rhyne Howard led the way in both victories with 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists against the Razorbacks, then 33 points, 10 rebounds and six assists against the Bulldogs.
Stanford (9-0) remained at No. 1, followed by Louisville (7-0) in second. N.C. State (10-0) and Connecticut (6-0) are tied for third and South Carolina (6-1) is fifth. Arkansas (10-2) fell to 13th and Mississippi State (6-2) to 14th.
Also on Monday, espnW named Kentucky’s Kyra Elzy its national coach of the week and Howard its national player of the week.
The high degree of difficulty of playing in the SEC continues this week with games against No. 8 Texas A&M (10-0) on Thursday and fifth-ranked South Carolina on Sunday.
The Wildcats started the season ranked 13th and was previously in the top 10 for two weeks, both at ninth.
Howard leads the Cats in scoring (18.8 points) and assists (3.6) and is second in rebounding (7.3). Chasity Patterson and Dre’una Edwards both also average double-digits in points with 13.8 and 13.5, respectively. Edwards’ 8.8 rebounds per game is a team high.
Next game
No. 10 Kentucky at No. 8 Texas A&M
When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday
Records: UK 9-1; A&M 10-0
TV: SEC Network
AP Top 25
Record | Pts | Pvs | |
1. Stanford (27) | 9-0 | 745 | 1 |
2. Louisville | 7-0 | 695 | 2 |
3. N.C. State (2) | 10-0 | 680 | 3 |
3. Connecticut (1) | 6-0 | 680 | 4 |
5. South Carolina | 6-1 | 647 | 5 |
6. Baylor | 8-1 | 590 | 7 |
7. Arizona | 8-1 | 535 | 6 |
8. Texas A&M | 10-0 | 534 | 9 |
9. UCLA | 6-2 | 505 | 11 |
10. Kentucky | 9-1 | 497 | 13 |
11. Oregon | 8-1 | 453 | 8 |
12. Maryland | 6-1 | 392 | 14 |
13. Arkansas | 10-2 | 372 | 10 |
14. Mississippi State | 6-2 | 365 | 12 |
15. Michigan | 7-0 | 349 | 16 |
16. Ohio State | 4-0 | 256 | 17 |
17. Texas | 8-1 | 251 | 19 |
18. South Florida | 7-1 | 204 | 21 |
19. Indiana | 5-2 | 193 | 20 |
20. DePaul | 5-3 | 173 | 18 |
21. Gonzaga | 8-2 | 113 | 23 |
22. Northwestern | 4-2 | 108 | 15 |
23. Michigan State | 8-0 | 106 | 25 |
24. Syracuse | 5-1 | 98 | 22 |
25. Missouri State | 4-2 | 66 | 24 |
Others receiving votes: North Carolina 32, South Dakota State 27, Georgia 25, Iowa 18, Tennessee 10, Rice 9, Alabama 8, Arizona State 7, Washington State 3, Oregon State 2, Iowa State 2.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 1:07 PM.
