‘We need 40 minutes of effort.’ Kentucky women’s basketball falls to 0-3 in SEC.

Kentucky women’s basketball remains without a win in Southeastern Conference play after a 64-60 loss to Georgia in Athens on Thursday night.

The Wildcats (8-7, 0-3 SEC) have now dropped six of their last seven. With the victory, the Lady Bulldogs (12-5, 1-2) won their first home game against UK since 2014. Georgia extended its all-time series lead to 39-22.

UK became the 11th team to commit at least 20 turnovers at the hands of UGA this season. Kentucky finished the game with 27 turnovers. UGA had 30 points off UK turnovers.

“I thought we came out and battled,” UK head coach Kyra Elzy said of the disappointing loss. “Our goal coming into the game was to win the boards, which we did. We did some good things, but not good enough. We have to finish. We’ve gotta find a way to finish. In this league, 33 minutes is not good enough. Thirty-four minutes is not good enough. We need 40 minutes of effort and finishing key plays when we have to. And the biggest thing that we learned and take away, like we have in the games that we lost, turnovers do matter. 27 turnovers, and they converted for 30 points. Ballgame.”

The Wildcats outrebounded Georgia 34-27 and led at most by 10, but ultimately could not overcome an unrelenting Georgia defense and size disadvantage. UK led 16-10 after one quarter, 29-23 at halftime and 47-41 entering the final 10 minutes but was outscored 23-13 by the Bulldogs from that point on.

At the half, despite its six-point lead, UK had committed 12 turnovers — six of those came in the second quarter, when the Cats made only five of 13 shots.

But Georgia experienced its own first-half offensive woes. The Lady Bulldogs endured two separate scoring droughts, each of which lasted five minutes.

Two Kentucky players scored in double figures, led by Robyn Benton, who returned after missing Sunday’s game against Arkansas because of a finger dislocation sustained against Missouri.

Benton, who spent two seasons at Auburn before transferring to Kentucky, surpassed 1,000 career points in the first quarter. She scored 19 points on 5-for-16 shooting from the field and 3-for-10 from beyond the arc. Benton, UK’s leading scorer this season, has scored in double figures in each of the 14 games she’s played.

The Wildcats, whose offensive production struggled in Benton’s absence against Arkansas, benefited from her return.

“I thought she emptied her tank,” Elzy said of Benton’s performance. “Laid it out there, battled through injury, made some tough plays offensively, but the energy that she brought us defensively is right where we need her to be.”

Maddie Scherr contributed 12 points, six rebounds and six assists. Adebola Adeyeye and Jada Walker both had eight points. Walker fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Freshman Kennedy Cambridge made an impact on both ends of the floor, grabbing a career-high eight rebounds. Cambridge had five points on 2-for-3 from the field and 1-for-2 from three.

“Kennedy has that dog mentality,” Elzy said. “She’s come from a winning pedigree. She has a high basketball IQ and she’s gonna lay it out there. She stars in her role. I thought she made some big plays tonight when we had to have them.”

The Lady Bulldogs had three players in double figures. Leading scorer Diamond Battles had 19 points. Brittney Smith scored 17. When Georgia tied the game at 37 after a 12-2 run halfway through the third quarter, Battles and Smith had combined for a total of 25 of the team’s 37 points.

Georgia’s Audrey Warren finished with 11 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Alisha Lewis secured UGA’s victory with a big three-pointer with 19 seconds remaining in the game, putting Georgia up 63-60. The Lady Bulldogs made only one shot beyond the arc through three quarters, then made three of four attempts in the final 10 minutes.

“We’re in the trenches together,” Elzy said. “We win together, we lose together. The next game on our schedule is the most important, and you just have the mentality that we focus on that game, what we can do to get the job done. So you go back to the practice floor, obviously morale is low as you are surrounded by competitors who want to win. So we have to find a way as a staff and as a head coach to rally them. Still be demanding, but also to get them in a good place mentally when you start 0-for-3. But we’re gonna have to bow up. There’s more coming.”

Next game

No. 7 LSU at Kentucky

When: 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Rupp Arena

TV: SEC Network Plus (online only)

Radio: WLAP-AM 630

Records: LSU 14-0 (2-0 SEC), Kentucky 8-7 (0-3)

Series: LSU leads 35-18

Last meeting: Kentucky won 78-63 on March 4, 2022, at the SEC Tournament in Nashville

This story was originally published January 5, 2023 at 10:50 PM.