As Pat Summitt week begins around women's college basketball, Kentucky faced the difficult task of taking on Tennessee in Thompson Boling Arena. The Wildcats were coming off of a one-week break following the postponement of their matchup against Mississippi State on Thursday. Unfortunately for Kyra Elzy's cats, Sunday's performance against the Lady Vols was almost a carbon copy of last week's game against South Carolina.
Kentucky brought the energy on both ends of the court in the first quarter as they got out to a-17-11 lead in the first 10 minutes. One thing that this Kentucky team does on a consistent basis is come out of the gates strong. A trend that is becoming too common for this team is once the first quarter buzzer sounds, the train starts to fall off the track.
Tennessee took a stranglehold on the game in the second quarter, outscoring Kentucky by a score of 27-10. Physicality was the name of the game for the Lady Vols as the Wildcats looked gassed throughout the second quarter and showed very little energy. For a team as talented as Kentucky, the lack of depth is getting exposed game-by-game as the Wildcats are simply unable to keep up with the top teams in the country in terms of stamina. With an opportunity to catch their breath, halftime did not provide any help.
After cutting the lead to 13 at 54-41 in the third, Tennessee ended the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 64-43 lead into the final quarter.
With the game in hand, Tennessee poured it on Kentucky in the fourth to improve to 17-1 on the season.
As mentioned earlier, Kentucky was getting abused the whole way by Tennessee. The Lady Vols outrebounded the Wildcats by a margin of 21.
One silver lining in this game was Rhyne Howard, who once again proved herself to be one of the top players in the country. Turnovers were an issue for Howard today, but a large portion of the offensive scheme was put on her shoulders. The midseason Wooden award nominee put up 24 points on the day.
With Kentucky's brutal stretch of Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee out of the way, it is crucial that Kentucky starts getting back in the win column consistently as the Wildcats are getting closer and closer to the bubble with each disappointing performance. With the loss, Kentucky is now 8-5 on the season with one power five win to show for.
Kentucky will return to action on Thursday at home against Florida, which is a borderline must win game for the Wildcats.