UK women’s basketball, still searching for first conference win, falls to No. 7 LSU
Kentucky’s women’s basketball team lost for the seventh time in the past eight games with a 67-48 setback against No. 7 LSU at Rupp Arena on Sunday afternoon.
LSU led wire-to-wire and remains the leader in the series at 36-18.
The Wildcats (8-8, 0-4 SEC), who remain on the search for their first conference win, struggled offensively in the first half, shooting 7-for-32 from the field, 3-for-12 from long distance and 0-for-1 from the free-throw line.
Through the first quarter, UK still seemed to be very much in the game, but LSU proved to be too physical.
“I think we just came out ready to play,” Maddie Scherr said of the promising start. “We were not gonna back down, we were not gonna look at ourselves as an underdog who’s gonna let us get stepped over. I think we just came out and wanted it more in the beginning.”
Two scoring droughts contributed to a 14-point halftime deficit, including a 5:52 run in the final minutes of the second quarter. In the final 5:12 of the first half, the Tigers went on a 12-0 run.
The Wildcats’ turnover woes continued with 25, though they forced just as many against the Tigers. LSU scored 29 points off UK’s miscues while the Wildcats scored 22 points off the Tigers’ mistakes.
Scherr scored a career-high 22 points on a career-high eight field goal makes. She had previously set a career-high with 18 points at Rupp Arena earlier this season in a loss to Louisville. She also contributed three rebounds and two assists.
The rest of the Wildcats combined for 26 points. Robyn Benton scored 11 on 5-for-14 shooting from the field and 1-for-5 shooting from three-point range.
“It’s hard to pinpoint just one thing,” Scherr said of the team’s in-game shooting struggles. “We really do shoot lights-out in practice. It’s super frustrating when this person has a great shooting night and this person doesn’t. We’ve gotta be able to put it all together.”
This game was also the first time transfer Ajae Petty squared off against her former team. She had three points and three rebounds in 17 minutes.
Nyah Leveretter led the Wildcats in rebounding with five.
UK finished the game shooting 34.5 percent from the field (19-for-55) and 35.5 percent from distance (6-for-17).
LSU shot 40.0 percent (20-for-50) from the field and 28.6 percent from beyond the arc (2-for-7). Those two three-pointers came on back-to-back shots from Tigers freshman Flau’jae Johnson in the third quarter.
Johnson scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds, as well.
“Flau’jae is a very confident basketball player …,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said of the freshman’s performance. “She’s hardest on herself. She hits the big shots. She’s not afraid to be aggressive and take it to the rim. When we were a little bit stagnant there offensively. Flau’jae played like she’d been doing this a long time at the collegiate level. She had a very, very good game.”
LSU’s leading scorer this season, Angel Reese, picked up her 16th-consecutive double-double with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats trailed 54-27. They did manage to outscore the Tigers in the fourth quarter 21-13. UK connected on its last three shots of the game.
“It’s about a mentality,” UK head coach Kyra Elzy said of the Wildcats’ fourth-quarter performance. “We have to compete, we have to hustle. It doesn’t matter what the scoreboard says at that juncture. You have to learn to continue to grow and improve. And I liked that we were aggressive defensively, but at the end of the day, we have to find a way to score and get to the free-throw line for easy scoring opportunities.”
LSU scored 25 points on 31 free-throw attempts. UK scored four points on nine of their attempts from the foul line.
Kennedy Cambridge sustained an injury with less than a minute remaining in the game and walked off the court with help to be examined by a trainer. When asked by the Herald-Leader after the game, Elzy did not have an update on Cambridge’s injury.
Next game
No. 1 South Carolina at Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Memorial Coliseum
TV: SEC Network Plus (online only)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: South Carolina 16-0 (4-0 SEC), Kentucky 8-8 (0-4)
Series: South Carolina leads 37-35
Last meeting: Kentucky won 64-62 on March 6, 2022, at the SEC Tournament in Nashville
This story was originally published January 8, 2023 at 4:38 PM.
