Kentucky WBB Takes on Hated Rival, Louisville
(Picture Credit: ukathletics.com)
After a disappointing loss to DePaul Thursday night, the ladies look to bounce back against that team that everyone in Lexington hates, Louisville. No. 7 Louisville is (7-1) with a very convincing win against No. 13 Michigan. Their one loss came to No. 6 Arizona the first game of the season by a score of 61-59. For Kentucky to pull off the upset on the road they'll need big games from their two highest scorers, Rhyne Howard and Dre'una Edwards. Edwards is coming off a one game suspension which sidelined her versus DePaul.
1st Quarter 19-13 Louisville
Louisville jumped out to an early 19-13 lead to end the first period. After back-to-back threes from Hailey Van Lith and Chelsie Hall to go along with a couple of layups, the Cards started to assert themselves as Kentucky looked noticeably gassed. But freshman Jada Walker Kept the Lady Cats alive with back-to-back layups and a Rhyne Howard three.
2nd Quarter 33-32 Kentucky
The second quarter was a little more chippy and rivalry like. Two Louisville taunting technical fouls helped the Wildcats get back in the game. No matter how much Louisville would extend their lead it seemed like Kentucky just wouldn't go away. After Louisville extended its lead 30-22 Coach Elzy calls a timeout and the Cats respond with an 11-2 run to end the half. After the timeout, Kentucky looked to be much more aggressive on both ends of the court especially on the defensive end. At the half, Robyn Benton led all scorers with 11 on 4 of 5 shooting from the field.
3rd Quarter 44-39 Louisville
It's a miracle Kentucky was only down five heading into the final quarter. Louisville was able to catch some rhythm to start the second half after going on a 7-0 run. Still yet, shots weren't falling at a rapid rate. Kentucky didn't score their first points of the quarter until 3:25 left on a pair of Jada Walker free throws. Dating back to the end of the first half, Kentucky missed 13 straight field goals and only made one in the entire third quarter.
Final 64-58 Louisville
Kentucky led 54-53 with 3:36 left in the game. Since that point Louisville went on a 6-0 run and that seemed to take all the air out of Kentucky. Rhyne Howard was never able to get it going in the game shooting a disappointing 3-13 from the field. Dre' Edwards and Treasure Hunt carried the Cats offensively both scoring 14 points but at the end of the day turnovers killed the Cats. It's hard to win any game with 21 turnovers.
Kentucky WBB looks to bounce back Friday against Morgan State.