FINAL: Kentucky WBB beats Lipscomb, picks up program's 900th win
In the preview for this game, we mentioned how much Lipscomb likes to shoot. Kentucky women’s basketball needed to defend the Bisons well to give them a chance at winning. Despite being under .500, UK was the better team on paper. Lipscomb didn’t necessarily shoot the volume of threes that they’re accustomed to, but when you shoot 55% from the field, it’s going to be hard to lose.
Despite that, Kentucky rallied and secured the victory, 87-80, on Thursday at Rupp Arena. It marks the program’s 900th win.
Sophomore Amiya Jenkins made her return to the hardwood against the Bisons after battling a shoulder injury, and it seemed like she hadn’t missed a beat. At the half, Jenkins led UK in scoring with 12 points on 5-6 (83%) shooting while also going 2-2 from three. The guard finished with 20 total points, and her effort was just good enough for Kentucky to get the win.
One of the bigger factors in the game was the turnover battle. Kentucky committed 14 turnovers to Lipscomb’s 17, and the Bisons relished off of that. Lipscomb scored 15 points off of Kentucky’s turnovers. When a team already has the hot hand, you can’t afford to give them free points.
However, Kentucky scored 27 points off of Lipscomb’s turnovers, resulting in the seven-point win to move to 6-7 on the season. After being down 41-28 in the third quarter, all hope had practically been lost, but Kentucky never surrendered.
Senior Maddie Scherr led the charge against the Bisons, scoring 25 points on 7-16 (44%) shooting. She also recorded seven assists and five rebounds in the victory. If Kentucky is going to continue to win these types of games in the future, then they need Scherr to keep up her pace of play. Ajae Petty was good, but not great against Lipscomb. She had just seven points and six rebounds against the Bisons. Nice to see that she didn’t have to carry the team for Kentucky to win.
After having a huge game against Furman, Saniah Tyler brought it again on Thursday. The sophomore guard finished with 22 points on 8-15 (53%) shooting. Kentucky definitely needed Tyler to come through again, and that’s exactly what she did. You could most certainly tell that her performance against the Furman wasn’t a fluke.
UK will take on Samford on New Year’s Eve as they have over a week before they play again. The game against Samford also marks Kentucky’s last game before conference play is underway. The ‘Cats need to win that one too to set the tone for the rest of the season.
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