Bench, boards and baskets: Kentucky women end three-game skid in get-right victory

The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team entered its final non-conference game of the 2022-23 regular season on Wednesday morning with a chance to make things right.

UK had a doubt-inducing three-game losing streak behind it and a perilous 16-game Southeastern Conference schedule looming ahead.

The Wildcats did not solve all of their problems during their 11 a.m. tip-off against Ohio University in Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday but at least they’ll enter the holidays feeling better about things.

Robyn Benton led five Wildcats in double figures with 22 points as Kentucky defeated the Bobcats 95-86 to improve to 8-4 overall and 6-3 at home this season. Ohio University, from the Mid-American Conference, dropped to 2-8.

“It feels good to win,” Coach Kyra Elzy said afterward. “Everybody wanted to go home happy for Christmas. It was a very happy locker room. You lose your confidence, you have to battle through adversity, but give them credit. It’s been a tough week and some change but they battled back, and we’re back in the winning column, and this is the confidence that we needed going into break and also into SEC play.”

Kentucky’s 95-point scoring outburst was its largest point total since a 98-56 win over North Alabama on Nov. 11, 2021. It came five days after the Wildcats generated their worst offensive outing of Kyra Elzy’s coaching era at UK in a 51-44 loss to Murray State.

Benton scored 14 of her game-high 22 points during the third quarter — making four of five three-point attempts — to give Kentucky its first breathing room of the day.

Ohio and Kentucky were tied 33-33 at halftime but the Wildcats built a five-point advantage by the end of the third quarter, expanded that to 10 points in the fourth quarter and held on for the win. Kentucky put things out of reach for good when Eniya Russell drove from the top of the key into the paint and found a cutting Blair Green for a nifty reverse layup for an 82-74 lead. A little more than a minute later, Green swished a three-pointer from the right corner to make it 89-80, and the win was secure.

Green finished with 14 points as did Jada Walker. Ajae Petty came off the bench to contribute 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes. Kentucky also got a spark from reserve Eniya Russell with a season-high 14 points, along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 15 minutes.

Kentucky and Ohio entered Wednesday’s game as two of the worst three-point shooting teams in Division I but both found some success from beyond the arc.

Ohio, ranked 293rd out of 350 Division I teams in three-point shooting at 26.58 percent, stayed close to UK on Wednesday by connecting on nine of 21 attempts (42.9 percent). Caitlyn Kroll (16 points) made four threes and Jaya McClure (15 points) hit three. Yaya Felder led the Bobcats with 20 points.

Kentucky, ranked 331st in three-point shooting at 24.06 percent, made seven of its 25 tries Wednesday (28 percent). Benton made four, Russell two and Green one.

Ohio outshot Kentucky overall, 62 percent to 48 percent, but the Wildcats took 19 more shots than the Bobcats — the result of a 36-20 advantage on the boards and a 20-3 edge in offensive rebounds.

Of Wednesday’s many bright spots, seeing some shots fall through the net had to please Elzy the most, but the rebounding edge was not only a product of Kentucky’s size advantage but a signal of the Cats’ desire on this day.

Kentucky entered the game ranked 204th nationally in rebounding margin, trailing opponents by 0.5 per game.

In addition to Petty’s eight boards, Adebola Adeyeye contributed six, Maddie Scherr five, Walker five and Russell four.

“Well, they’re probably sick of me saying rebound the basketball and defend,” Elzy said. “But for us, I thought Ajae Petty really set the tone for us early, going to get the offensive board. We’ve been talking in film that we need four to the boards, especially with how we’ve been shooting the ball. So I’m excited to see that we crashed the boards, having five players in double figures. I thought, even in some of the games we lost, we were moving the ball, we just weren’t making shots, so it was phenomenal to see the ball go in the basket today.

“(Assistant) coach Jen (Hoover) and I were talking before the game started and Santa walked by and she said, ‘All I want for Christmas is for us to hit a basket.’ I said, ‘ That sounds good to me.’”

‘Earn our blue back’

As a result of the team’s recent shortcomings on the court, Elzy said she has talked with her players about “earning your blue.”

The head coach said nobody on the coaching staff or on the team is currently wearing anything in practice with the word “Kentucky” showing.

“We are with our shirts inside out at practice, and one team is black and one team is green,” Elzy said. “There’s a way that we need to represent this program. There’s a toughness, a pride, a responsibility that we have being the flagship, and I don’t think we have been doing that. So, we took away the privilege.”

Scherr was memorably quoted after Sunday’s home loss to Florida Gulf Coast saying that Kentucky’s players “don’t hate losing enough,” a sentiment that Elzy later supported.

“They’re looking to win it back, don’t worry,” Elzy said after Wednesday’s game. “We had a Christmas party yesterday and they had to build gingerbread houses. I get to the third team, and Maddie (Scherr) and Kennedy Cambridge had a ‘UK’ on their house and I told them ‘this wasn’t on the box,’ and they said, ‘we’re trying to earn our blue back.’

“So, they do want it, but there’s a responsibility that comes with it. We hadn’t got it yet, but we’re going to work to get it back.”

Coming up

Following Wednesday’s victory, Kentucky now goes seven days without a game before SEC play gets underway.

The Wildcats’ league schedule opens with five games in 15 days, three of them against teams ranked in this week’s Associated Press Top 25.

Kentucky visits Missouri (11-2) on Dec. 29 before a New Year’s Day game at home against No. 17 Arkansas (13-1 entering Wednesday). Then comes a trip to Georgia (10-3 entering Wednesday) followed by home games against No. 10 LSU (12-0) on Jan. 8 and No. 1 South Carolina (12-0) on Jan. 12. The contest vs. LSU will be played in Rupp Arena.

Next game

Kentucky at Missouri

What: Southeastern Conference opener

When: Dec. 29, 9 p.m.

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630

Records: Kentucky 8-4, Missouri 11-2

Series: Kentucky leads 10-4.

Last meeting: Kentucky won 78-63 on Feb. 24, 2022, at Columbia, Mo.

This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 1:35 PM.