UK women’s basketball falls short in upset attempt at South Carolina to close regular season
The No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats dropped their regular-season finale on Sunday against No. 6 South Carolina with a hard-fought 78-66 loss on the road.
Though Kentucky (22-6, 11-5 SEC) solidified its fourth-place finish in the league standings — which also clinched the fourth and final double-bye for this week’s SEC Tournament — on Thursday with its wire-to-wire rout of No. 11 Tennessee, the Wildcats played the Gamecocks as though they were the ones playing for a league title.
South Carolina entered Sunday’s contest tied with Texas at the top of the SEC standings, but UK kept things close at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
Behind seven first-quarter points from junior forward Teonni Key, UK positioned itself well for the majority of the opening period. However, despite Kentucky’s offense doing enough to stay within striking distance, its defense struggled at times to contain the Gamecocks. South Carolina strung together two scoring runs of three consecutive field goals, including a killer seven-point swing in the final 64 seconds of the quarter.
The Gamecocks (27-3, 15-1) extended that first-quarter scoring run to 9-0 with an early jump shot from Te-Hina Paopao early in the second, but All-America point guard Georgia Amoore and sophomore center Clara Strack momentarily halted the momentum with back-to-back field goals to return the deficit to single digits.
South Carolina benefited from a balanced scoring attack, with five Gamecocks scoring between six and eight points to keep the Wildcats at bay on Senior Day. Only Amoore had contributed double figures in scoring by halftime, with 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field, though she was 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Kentucky did outrebound the Gamecocks — who entered the contest ranked third in the SEC’s rebounding standings — 18-15 in the first half, but it struggled in the paint. South Carolina scored 28 of its 41 first-half points there versus Kentucky’s 14 of 33 points in the paint.
The Wildcats cut the lead to five points at the start of the second half, but South Carolina quickly extended it back to 10.
Throughout the game, South Carolina’s offense was able to assemble necessary scoring runs to fend off a Kentucky comeback. When the Gamecocks suffered a scoring drought lasting more than three-and-a-half minutes in the third period, the Wildcats also sustained a minutes-long scoring drought of their own.
Regardless, Kentucky kept pushing. Undeterred by their own missteps, the Wildcats closed the third period hitting six of their final eight attempts from the field and won the quarter 20-17.
Those efforts continued into the final period of play, as the Wildcats cut the lead to one twice.
Strack powered Kentucky’s second-half engine, following up her perfect performance against Tennessee with another double-figure outing. Strack contributed 10 points in the third quarter, and kept things rolling in the fourth with nine more.
A devastating 3-pointer from Paopao with just over five minutes to play doubled the Gamecocks’ lead. South Carolina immediately forced a turnover — just one example of the impressive defense played by South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley all afternoon — and Strack sent Chloe Kitts to the line, where she sank two to increase the lead the eight.
The Gamecocks forced five Kentucky turnovers and went on a 9-0 scoring over the course of three minutes, and they ultimately outscored UK 13-2 in the final 5:42 of the game to put the Wildcats away for good.
Strack led the Wildcats in scoring with 23 points and added eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal. Amoore finished with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Key finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks. Graduate guard Dazia Lawrence added 10 points.
Tessa Johnson paced the Gamecocks with 16 points. Paopao finished with 13, Kitts added 12 and Fulwiley finished with 10.
The Wildcats will next head to Greenville, South Carolina, for the 2025 SEC Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Next game
No. 15 Kentucky in the 2025 SEC Tournament
Who: The winner of No. 5 vs. No. 12/13
When: 2:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
This story was originally published March 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM.
