Kentucky Goes #45MINS to Defeat Arkansas

Boy oh boy. The 10th ranked Kentucky women’s basketball team gave everyone a scare tonight, but were able to come back from an 11 point deficit and defeat the Arkansas Razorbacks on the road 80-74 in overtime. Things looked all too familiar to the Georgia loss on Sunday in the first half, as the Wildcats could not do anything on offense, as the Hogs held star Mathies without a field goal. Kentucky was able to battle back early in the second half, as the Cats and Hogs went back and forth but Arkansas still held a choke hold on the lead. This all changed after the last media timeout. The combination of Arkansas playing with a “not to lose” mentality and Goss and Mathies leading some aggressive plays for UK’s offense allowed the Cats to tie it with just under 30 seconds left. Brittany Henderson blocked two shots on the Hogs’ final possession, and to overtime they went….

In the extra period, it was all Kentucky. Samarie Walker was the key to Kentucky’s offense when no other players could step up, and sophomore Bria Goss had her best performance of the season, leading the team with 17 points. A’dia Mathies got hot late and finished with a near double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds. Sarah Watkins was the go to player for the Hogs, finishing with 22 in her losing effort. Matthew Mitchell has to like the improved toughness from his team after the disappointing effort in Sunday afternoon’s loss. Most confusing stat: Jenn O’Neill finished with 0 points in only 16 minutes of playing time….no clue why, but Evans and Goss stepped up big time to (wo)man the guard position.

This is a huge win for Kentucky, as they avoided a second straight loss. The Cats hold strong at 2nd in the SEC standings, but they control their own destiny in hopes of achieving another SEC Championship.

Kentucky’s next game is on Sunday, as the Cats travel to Nashville to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores at 4. Hayley and I will be there live in Memorial Gym so make sure to tune in and tweet @WilderTreadKSR.