Kentucky women’s basketball rolls to victory in lone exhibition game. See who led the way.
The Kentucky women’s basketball team launched its 2023-24 season on a positive note by defeating Kentucky State 88-71 in its lone exhibition game Wednesday in Rupp Arena.
Forward Ajae Petty, who the program positioned all summer as the team’s new breakout star, performed as advertised. Petty led the Wildcats with 19 points and 13 rebounds. She also totaled a block, two assists and a pair of steals. She led an effective frontcourt performance that resulted in the Wildcats scoring 56 points in the paint against their NCAA Division II opponents.
Petty delivered an impressive first-half performance of 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting while falling one rebound shy of a double-double to put the Wildcats up 45-31 after two periods.
UK got out to a slow start, needing the majority of the second half to shake off the offseason rust. The Thorobreds remained competitive until around the four-minute mark of the first quarter. Kentucky State took advantage of a few errant passes and missed shots by the home team to tie the game 11-11 before the Wildcats went on a 13-2 scoring run to close out the period.
Fifth-year guard Emma King finished with 12 points. Eniya Russell and Saniah Tyler also each contributed 12 points. Gracen Kerr led the Thorobreds with 23 points and seven assists. Taleah Dilworth added 21 points and eight boards for KSU.
Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy opened Wednesday’s game, which tipped off at 11 a.m., with a starting lineup of Brooklynn Miles, Maddie Scherr, Zennia Thomas, Petty and Tyler. The only player on UK’s 12-person roster not to play Wednesday was senior forward Nyah Leveretter, who is recovering from a knee injury suffered late last season.
Miles, a former Franklin County High School star making her Kentucky debut after transferring from Tennessee, finished with nine points, five assists, three rebounds, a steal and three turnovers in 28 minutes.
UK will officially open its 2023-24 season against East Tennessee State on Tuesday at Transylvania University’s Clive M. Beck Center (7 p.m., SEC Network Plus).
The Wildcats are not playing in Memorial Coliseum this season because of an ongoing $82 million renovation of the historic arena. Most of Kentucky’s games will be in Rupp Arena, but the Cats will also play home games at Transy and Georgetown College.
