No. 19 Kentucky defeated No. 17 Georgia 62-58 on the road behind Rhyne Howard’s 27 points and her 4 three-pointers. 

SEC tournament seeding implications were on the line Thursday night for both programs. Heading into the game, Kentucky was looking to knock off the No. 3 seeded Bulldogs as both teams try to secure double-byes in Greenville next week.  

Kentucky did just that after their victory, securing a top-four seed for the time being with a 9-5 conference record. A victory over Ole Miss on Sunday would guarantee their spot. 

“This game was vital. We knew we had to come here and take care of business,” head coach Kyra Elzy said after the game. “We take it one game at a time and let the chips fall where they may.”

Both teams kept within a basket or two of each other for the first quarter, but Kentucky smoked the Bulldogs in the second, outscoring them 19-8.

Kentucky went into halftime hitting seven for their last nine shots, including a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Chasity Patterson right before the break. The Wildcats also held Georgia to 1-9 from the floor during the final three minutes of the first half.

Rhyne-time was in full effect in the first half against the Bulldogs. Kentucky’s superstar guard scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting, including two steals and three rebounds at the half. 

“She [Howard] continues to prove why she is the best,” Elzy said. “Not only scoring, I want people to look at what she does across the stat sheet. . . she just changes the dynamic of the game.”

Georgia would cut the lead all the way down to two by the fourth quarter, but a three-pointer by Howard extended the lead back to five and Kentucky wouldn’t look back. “That’s a bad girl right there!” said Carolyn Peck, after Howard knocked down her fourth three-pointer in four attempts. 

“That was a dagger,” Coach Elzy would later say about the shot. 

Howard would finish with 27 points on 10-16 shooting (62 percent) along with four steals. Patterson (15) and Tatyana Wyatt (11) were the only other Wildcat to score in double figures tonight. 

“I definitely knew my team was counting on me tonight to come out and have a big game,” Howard said after the game. “Tonight for me, shots were just falling. My teammates were finding me all the open looks and I was just able to capitalize.”

Both teams shot 39 percent from the field tonight, but Kentucky’s 42 percent three-point percentage would trump Georgia’s 16 percent; which would prove to be the difference.

Kentucky’s final regular season game will take place at home against Ole Miss this Sunday, Feb. 28 at noon on the SEC Network.