Kentucky women’s basketball nabbed its first road win of the season Thursday night, knocking off Mississippi State inside Humphrey Coliseum 78-68.
It was an inauspicious start for the Wildcats, who fell behind 16-11 heading into the first media timeout after allowing eight second-chance points to the Bulldogs.
Out of the timeout, Saniah Tyler caught fire, hitting four 3-pointers in under three minutes to give the Wildcats a 25-22 lead. Before Thursday, Tyler had not made a 3-pointer in 18 days.
”I guess it’s been a long time coming,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said. “Yes, she has been struggling. But the thing about her, even on an off day, she’s in the gym shooting… When that first one went in, I was like, ‘It’s gonna be a good day for her.’”
It was, in fact, a good day for Tyler, as she would go on to hit six 3-pointers en route to a 22-point performance. Her performance matched her season-high set against Lipscomb.
Mississippi State responded swiftly, however, hanging 15 unanswered points on the Wildcats between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third quarter to take a 41-35 lead. The Bulldogs’ run was largely thanks to Lauren Park-Lane, who had eight of Mississippi State’s 12 second-quarter points. She would finish with 13 points and six assists.
The Wildcats then chalked up a 10-2 run of their own to make the score 48-47 with four minutes left in the third quarter. Ajae Petty had five of those ten points.
”I thought she was just solid,” Elzy said. “I thought she took great shots… She just took her time.”
Petty finished the night with 20 points and 12 rebounds en route to her 15th double-double of the season. Thursday also marked her seventh 20-point effort of the year.
Despite the push, Kentucky found itself down nine points by the end of the quarter behind a burst from All-SEC center Jessika Carter, who had Mississippi State’s first 20 point and 20 rebound performance since 2019.
The Wildcats managed to cut the deficit to five points after hitting back-to-back layups, forcing a timeout from Bulldog head coach Sam Purcell with five minutes left in the game and, in the huddle, Elzy emphasized the importance of transitioning and pace.
”We just talked about [how] defensively, we need to stay locked in,” said Elzy. “Let’s rebound and run. We needed to play downhill.”
Kentucky did just that, forcing Mississippi State to turn the ball over five times in the next two minutes to open the door for a 7-0 Wildcat run. By the time Purcell called timeout, Kentucky had taken a 70-68 lead with three minutes to play.
”What I liked about this team tonight: They were locked in,” Elzy said. “Everybody was in tune on the bench… everything was clicking.”
The Wildcats put the dagger in the Bulldogs out of Purcell’s timeout, closing the game on an 8-0 run to win with a comfortable ten-point advantage.
Purcell carried a regret into the postgame press conference.
”[Kentucky] made some good plays,” he said. “They ran and jumped… If I could go back right now and call a timeout, I should have. I think it broke our spirit.”
Kentucky outscored Mississippi State 24-5 in the fourth quarter — with 19 of those points unanswered — to pull off its heroic fourth quarter comeback. The Bulldogs had nine fourth quarter turnovers and failed to score a point for the last six minutes of the game.
“We talked about [how] coming into this game, we needed to hang our hat on the defensive end,” Elzy said. “And everyone bought into that and it turned out well for us.”
Thursday was the second game in a row that the Wildcats won the rebounding battle, this time winning the battle of the boards 40-38. Elzy attributed the rebounding advantage to a team rebounding party.
”You know, just five people committed to the defensive boards that it was gonna be a team effort [sic],” said Elzy. “I joke with the guards during the starting lineups. I was like, ‘Guards, I need you all to join the party. Petty’s the leader of the party, you are joining the rebounding party.’ It takes a team effort.”
Thursday’s win not only marked the Wildcats’ first road win, but also their first set of consecutive wins since stunning Arkansas on Jan. 4.
“We’ve grown up a lot,” said Elzy. “I told them coming in, ‘We are a better team than we were when we played them the first time. It is a game of runs and you have to stay level headed.’”
The Wildcats will return home on Sunday, Feb. 25, to play host to No. 1 South Carolina and celebrate Senior Day. The game will tip off at 3 p.m. ET and be televised on SEC Network.
