Troubling trend persists for UK women’s team: ‘The 3rd quarter has really been our nemesis’
The Kentucky women’s basketball team’s third-quarter woes continued in Thursday’s 95-73 loss to Vanderbilt at Rupp Arena, with a 17-2 Vanderbilt run mid-quarter serving as the final nail in the Wildcats’ coffin.
While it was an impressive shooting night as a whole for the Commodores — 58% from the field and 50% from 3-point range — Vanderbilt (16-1, 3-0 SEC) particularly dominated the Wildcats’ defense in the third period, scoring 30 points on 75% shooting from the field (12-for-16) and 80% (4-for-5) from beyond the arc. Vandy converted the four third-quarter Kentucky turnovers into nine points, and 16 of Vanderbilt’s points in the period arrived in the paint.
“The third quarter has really been our nemesis this year,” UK head coach Kyra Elzy said. “We gave up 30 points in the third. It was a plethora of things. Either we turned the ball over and they scored off of our turnovers. You know, they were having straight-line drives and laying the ball up. We had talked about them scoring over defense, and didn’t do a good job of helping the helper tonight. And give them credit, they made big plays, big shots. And so this is the outcome that we get.”
The Wildcats (8-9, 1-2) are 3-9 in games where they have been outscored in the third quarter, with those wins coming against Boston College, Tennessee Tech and Arkansas. On the flip side, Kentucky is a 4-0 when it wins the third period. The only outlier, when UK and USC Upstate each scored 21 points in the third, also resulted in a Kentucky victory.
Elzy has expressed frustration throughout the season about her team’s inability to sustain tough, passionate play for a full 40 minutes. But after Thursday’s loss to Vanderbilt, she specifically called out her roster’s lack of defensive effort.
“I’m beyond disappointed,” Elzy said. “One, in front of our home crowd, but two, we have to hang our hat on the defensive end. We scored 73 points, which is enough to carry you, but if we had any type of defensive intensity — I mean we gave them 95 points. They did not fill us defensively. I didn’t think we had a passion or energy or heart for it today — for whatever reason. I’ll have to figure that out, go back with the staff and watch. But I’m disappointed with our effort defensively. And it showed — they had 29 assists on 38 field goals.”
Senior forward Ajae Petty, who led Kentucky with 23 points and a career-high 21 rebounds, called it more of a mental issue than one of physical fatigue.
“I think it’s more just a focus and just continuing to lock in when we’re going into halftime,” Petty said. “And just having a certain spunk about us, one to come out and just prove to people that we can play — I think we definitely have to improve on that.”
Junior guard Iyana Moore led the Commodores with a career-high 37 points while making 14 of 17 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Freshman forward Khamil Pierre added 16 points and six rebounds, and graduate guard Jordyn Cambridge had 12 points and 12 assists.
Vanderbilt entered Thursday’s game against UK averaging 33.3% from beyond the arc, then connected on 9 of 18. When asked about the Commodores’ nine 3-pointers, Elzy again gave credit to Vanderbilt’s shooting. But she also said the Commodores capitalized on UK’s mistakes when switching on defense — “when we didn’t do what we were supposed to do, they made us pay.”
UK senior guard Maddie Scherr — who contributed 20 points (6-for-16 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line) — complimented Vanderbilt’s balanced offensive attack.
“They have a good presence inside and then shooters on the outside,” Scherr said. “I think just their ability to play inside-out, make one more passes can be hard to guard. They shot it well.”
The Wildcats shot 26.3% from long range (5-for-19), two of which were made by Scherr.
Petty’s historic double-double
Petty’s double-double (23 points and 21 rebounds) was her 10th of the season and 12th of her college career, and she also had two blocks and two steals. She was the first player in program history to post a 20-20 double-double since Valerie Still against Charleston on Dec. 19, 1982. (Still, previously the only UK player to complete the feat, had two 20-20 double-doubles during her UK career).
“It means a lot,” Petty said of the achievement. “I think my teammates always do a great job of trying to look for me and get the ball. It just shows the work that I’ve been putting in and just continuing to put in. Of course, I wanted to win tonight.”
While Petty pulled in 21 rebounds, the rest of the Wildcats combined for just 11 — and Kentucky still only lost the battle of the boards 39-32. Vanderbilt excelled on the defensive glass, grabbing 27 defensive rebounds to the Wildcats’ 15.
“I think we all just need to keep battling,” Scherr said. “Keep getting on the boards, getting the loose ones maybe that (Petty) can’t get. Basically just getting any board that Petty can’t get. That’s what we need to do.”
And UK will most certainly need to do that soon, as the Wildcats’ next battle will take them to Columbia, South Carolina, to take on the undefeated Gamecocks on Monday night. South Carolina is fresh off an 81-57 victory over Missouri, where the Gamecocks pulled in 37 rebounds, all things considered a poor night on the glass for the top-ranked team in the nation. Ahead of the game against Missouri, South Carolina led not only the SEC in rebounds per game, but it also ranked second in the country with 50.2 rebounds per contest.
Kentucky’s first of two matchups against the Gamecocks during SEC play will provide fans the first glimpse this season at the post matchup between the 6-foot-3 Petty and South Carolina 6-7 senior center Kamilla Cardoso. Ahead of Thursday night’s games, Petty and Cardoso were tied for third in the conference in rebounding with 10.7 rebounds per game.
“My mindset is the same going into every game,” Petty said. “To go in, do whatever my team needs in order for us to win, and just to continue to dominate.”
Next game
Kentucky at No. 1 South Carolina
When: 7 p.m. Monday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Kentucky 8-9 (1-2 SEC), South Carolina 15-0 (3-0)
Series: South Carolina leads 39-35
Last meeting: South Carolina won 87-69 on Feb. 2, 2023, at Columbia, S.C.
This story was originally published January 12, 2024 at 11:43 AM.
