Kentucky’s women’s basketball team responds to tough Louisville loss with rout of Furman
The Kentucky women’s basketball team closed out the second quarter of a dominant 75-45 victory Sunday against visiting Furman on an 11-2 run, hitting all six of its final field-goal attempts to end the first half.
That stretch followed one that lasted nearly four minutes and saw UK’s offensive struggles — which have plagued the team throughout its 12 games — return, resulting in zero points and four turnovers. Furman (7-6) went scoreless during that stretch too, though, and the Wildcats (5-7) eventually pushed a 26-17 lead out to 37-23 at the break.
After the game, UK head coach Kyra Elzy spoke about the turnovers during that sequence — four of the team’s 20 in the game.
“We were just talking about before the game,” she said. “Aggressive turnovers versus careless turnovers. And I thought those were careless turnovers. Either we weren’t in the right spot, or we were predetermining the path that we want to make. We threw a lot of passes out of bounds. I don’t know what we were looking at over there. But you know, that’s also learning to play with each other.”
It was reminiscent of UK’s costly, minutes-long third-period drought last Sunday against Louisville that ultimately took the Wildcats out of the game. But that lesson, which Maddie Scherr said was “there’s no letting up in those four quarters,” served as a reminder.
“In the Louisville game, there was a third-quarter run that they had that we just couldn’t recover from,” Scherr said. “And it just kind of shows you, to make it over that hump, you gotta execute down the stretch. And I think in this game, it definitely carried over.”
What also carried over from the disappointing loss to their rival, Saniah Tyler said, was the confidence that came from it.
“Just kind of had to go back to work after the Louisville game,” she said. “I feel like we’re in a good spot at the end of the game, like we weren’t down because we knew we could keep up with a good team like that.”
And, after building a 14-point halftime lead, the Wildcats’ confidence was evident. UK forced 14 of the Paladins’ 25 turnovers in the final two quarters of the game while outscoring them 38-22 on the way to their 30-point victory. The Wildcats, who snapped a two-game losing streak, successfully limited the Paladins to their lowest point total of the season.
Two Furman players scored in double figures: Sydney Ryan with 11 points, six rebounds and one assist and Kate Johnson with 12 points, 10 rebounds, one assist, two blocks and two steals.
Kentucky’s offense, when clicking, also appeared more fluid than it has for the majority of the season. UK’s 75 points was the team’s highest total since an 83-81 win over Boston College. According to Elzy, their offensive success is a sign of the team’s growing understanding of how to identify and execute their game plan.
“We’re starting to understand the offense a little more and what we’re looking for,” she said. “Who’s hot, who’s, you know, scoring at that time, but just the offensive movement, taking us side-to-side has really helped us. And it gives us rhythm shots, which we can shoot.”
The Wildcats shot 54% (31-for-57) from the field and 41% (7-for-17) from beyond the arc. They also finished with 44 points in the paint, 18 fast-break points and 31 points off the bench.
Two members of UK’s starting lineup, Ajae Petty (16 points) and Scherr (13), scored in double figures. Petty also had nine rebounds, three assists, one block and two steals. Scherr contributed five rebounds, eight assists, one block and five steals.
Tyler came off the bench to lead all players in scoring with a career-high 17 points, including making all three of her 3-point attempts. Eniya Russell added 10 points, two rebounds and three assists.
Next game
When: 11 a.m. Thursday
Where: Rupp Arena
TV: SEC Network+ (online only)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Lipscomb 6-5, Kentucky 5-7
Series: Kentucky leads 2-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 116-49 on Nov. 21, 2013, at Memorial Coliseum
