FINAL: Kentucky WBB beats Tenneessee, advances to first SEC title since 2014
Nine. Count ’em. NINE straight wins for Kentucky Women’s Basketball. Your Wildcats are now in the 2022 SEC Tournament championship game. How unbelievable would that sentence have sounded just three weeks ago?
On Saturday night, seven-seeded Kentucky took down three-seeded Tennessee by a final score of 83-74 in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The win moves UK into the title game against No. 1 ranked South Carolina, which will take place on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. EST on ESPN. Rhyne Howard was spectacular for the ‘Cats, finishing with 24 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists on 7-12 shooting. Kentucky led the entire game and made a season-high 12 3-pointers.
UK will play in its first SEC Tournament championship since 2014.
Kentucky picked up right where it left off from Friday night’s game, connecting on its first four 3-pointers to quickly go in front 12-3. A made jumper from Jazmine Massengill pushed the UK lead to double-digits, which forced Tennessee into a timeout. The ‘Cats would cool off from there though, at one point missing seven of eight shot attempts. But a clutch triple from Howard right before the end of the first frame gave her eight points and put her team ahead 22-13 after 10 minutes of action.
Tennessee made its run to behind the second, trimming the UK lead down to four just a couple of minutes in. The offense began to sputter for the ‘Cats before Howard went into attack mode and Treasure Hunt began to heat up from distance. Every mini-run from the Lady Volunteers was met with a Kentucky bucket. At one point, Tennessee got as close as 36-34 with a little over two minutes until the half, but UK made a loud statement heading into the locker room.
A pair of triples from Hunt and Robyn Benton pushed the ‘Cats to a 44-37 advantage at the intermission as tensions were rising on both benches. Howard and Jada Walker combined for 21 points as Kentucky drilled nine shots from deep in the opening half.
Tennessee struck first for the second straight quarter, rattling off an 8-2 run that put the Vols down by just one point. But once again, Kentucky had an answer. Howard went right back to work with an and-1 while Benton was hitting shots from all over the floor. A timely layup from Walker with 65 seconds left in the third ballooned the UK lead back to double-digits before settling on a score of 61-53 with just one quarter to go.
The fourth quarter saw UT give it one last shot. Once again, the Vols made a run, cutting the Kentucky lead to just two early in the period and again down to four with roughly four minutes left. But Tennessee could never get over the hump as UK continued to respond. Howard put the team on her back down the stretch, scoring 10 fourth-quarter points. As a result, Kentucky ran away with the 83-74 win.
Joining Howard in the double-digit scoring club were Benton and Walker with 16 points each, and Hunt with 11 points and four rebounds. Dre’Una Edwards added eight points and seven rebounds while Massengill contributed eight points, three rebounds, and five assists.
We’ll see you all tomorrow…
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