Kentucky women’s basketball battles back, falls short against top-15 team in the Bahamas
The Kentucky women’s basketball team came up short in its first game this season against a ranked opponent, but the Wildcats showed plenty of fight against a top-15 foe.
UK lost to No. 11 Virginia Tech, 82-74, on Monday afternoon in the first of two games the Cats will play in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in the Bahamas.
Kentucky trailed 29-8 after the first quarter, 44-23 at halftime and 67-49 after the third quarter, but head coach Kyra Elzy’s team used a 17-2 run in the closing minutes of the game to cut the gap to just six points against the Hokies.
UK (4-1) found itself down just six points with 44 seconds to go before Virginia Tech (4-0) held on for the win.
Kentucky outscored Virginia Tech by 13 (66-53) over the final three quarters.
“There’s no moral victories, make no mistakes about it. We came here to win. We came here to fight,” Elzy told reporters via Zoom after the game. “What I love about this team (is) we have heart ... down the stretch we emptied our tank to get back into the game and that just shows you that we have fight in us.”
What did Elzy think went wrong in that lopsided first quarter?
“I thought we panicked. ... I thought we took some quick shots. I thought they were physical with us early,” Elzy said. “We drove downhill (and) missed some bunnies, missed some outside shots. I thought they made us play fast. ... We just didn’t adjust well.”
The Cats were led in scoring by sophomore guard Jada Walker with 17 points, while graduate student guard Robyn Benton had 13 points and transfer forward Ajae Petty added 12.
Kentucky again struggled with its perimeter shooting on Monday: The Cats went 2-for-9 on three-pointers, and for the season UK is just 21-of-94 (22.3%) from behind the arc.
While Kentucky never led in the game, the Cats found success in turning defense into offense. UK forced Virginia Tech into 20 turnovers, and held a 29-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
UK has now forced 20 or more turnovers in four of five games this season.
Virginia Tech — which was picked to finish second in the ACC this season — got a significant contribution from returning ACC Player of the Year Elizabeth Kitley, as the senior center finished with a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds.
The Hokies entered Monday’s game averaging 82.3 points per game, and stayed on that trajectory thanks to an additional 16 points from senior guard Ashley Owusu, 15 points from graduate student forward Taylor Soule and 14 points from junior guard Georgia Amoore.
Virginia Tech outrebounded Kentucky, 43-32, in the game.
UK will finish its trip to the Bahamas with a Wednesday afternoon game against Dayton (0-5), which lost by 13 to Ole Miss on Monday night in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship.
Next game
Kentucky vs. Dayton
When: 4:30 p.m. Wednesday
What: Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship in the Bahamas
Online: FloHoops (subscription needed)
This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 8:25 PM.
