Kentucky women’s basketball on the wrong end of a Senior Day comeback against No. 7 LSU
The No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats found themselves on the wrong end of a second-half surge in their 65-58 loss to No. 7 LSU on Senior Day on Sunday afternoon.
UK (21-5, 10-4 SEC) led by as many as 16 points before a 23-6 edge in the third quarter helped LSU (27-2, 12-2) turn the tables. The Wildcats put together a rally of their own in the fourth quarter, taking a 56-55 lead with 3:17 to go. The game remained tight down the stretch before the Tigers prevailed.
Neither team had much luck landing shots early after Kentucky opened play with six consecutive points, but a sold-out crowd for Senior Day at Memorial Coliseum still got an action-packed first quarter. The top-15 matchup with massive postseason implications featured 11 personal fouls in the first frame, including a double-intentional foul called on Kentucky’s Clara Strack and LSU’s Aneesah Morrow with just under two minutes to play.
The Wildcats and the Tigers combined for just eight made field goals in the first 10 minutes, as Kentucky shot a meager 22.2% (4-for-18) while holding LSU to 26.7% (4-for-15) from the field.
Strack was called for her second foul with just under seven minutes to play in the half — making her the second UK starter alongside junior forward Teonni Key to pick up two personals — but Kentucky’s momentum wasn’t affected; the Wildcats strung together a 12-0 scoring run over three-and-a-half minutes to take a 14-point lead. UK shot nearly 50% (10-for-21) from the field in the second quarter, and ultimately outscored the Tigers 24-14 along the way to a 12-point edge at the half.
Celebrated “seniors” Georgia Amoore and Dazia Lawrence — the latter of whom scored her 1,500th career point in the second quarter — plus junior forward Amelia Hassett, led the Wildcats in scoring through the first 20 minutes of play, combining for 30 of the team’s 38 points. No Tigers had eclipsed double figures in scoring in the first half, but reigning SEC freshman of the year Mikaylah Williams led her team with nine points.
Strack and Key checked back in to join their fellow starters to open the second half, but the Tigers came out of the locker room with a vengeance and scored the first six points of the third quarter. For the first five minutes of play, only junior guard Saniah Tyler found the basket, giving the Wildcats a much-needed 3-pointer while LSU dominated the boards. Kentucky went more than three-and-a-half minutes without a made field goal, and LSU took its first lead of the game on a corner 3-pointer from preseason SEC co-player of the year Flau’Jae Johnson with 3:36 to play in the period.
Though UK had given itself enough breathing room in the first half, its inability to make a field goal for more than six minutes in the third took a toll, particularly when LSU shot its game-high of 47.6% (10-for-21) from the field behind nine points from Johnson and eight points from Williams. The Tigers outscored the Wildcats 23-6 out of the locker room, gaining a five-point advantage with 10 minutes to play.
Kentucky opened the final period of play slowly, before Amoore’s second scoop-and-score of the day with just under seven minutes to play reignited the UK offense. It marked the first of four straight baskets for the Wildcats over the course of 82 seconds, and that run pushed UK back ahead of the Tigers, if only for a moment. The final four minutes were highly competitive, despite Kentucky being beat in nearly every statistical category; for the remainder of the contest, it was largely a single-possession game.
A layup from freshman center Clara Silva cut the Tigers’ lead to one with just over a minute to play, but Williams answered with a clutch 3-pointer with 50 seconds left on the clock. Two free throws (on four attempts) from Shayeann Day-Wilson put LSU ahead by six. Unfortunately, for the Wildcats, the team could not convert on offense, and the Tigers closed the game out on a 6-0 scoring run to complete the comeback.
Amoore paced the Wildcats in scoring with 16 points and added five rebounds, one block and three steals. Silva added 12 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field, plus eight rebounds and three blocks. Hassett added nine points, eight rebounds, one block and two steals. Lawrence contributed nine points, one rebound and one assist.
Williams led the Tigers in scoring with 24 points. Johnson added 13 points and 13 rebounds. Morrow finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Next game
No. 15 Tennessee at No. 14 Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Tennessee 21-6 (8-6 SEC), Kentucky 21-5 (10-4)
Series: Tennessee leads 61-15
Last meeting: Tennessee won 78-62 on March 6, 2024, in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 6:24 PM.
