Foul trouble and shaky shooting leads to downfall at FGCU
Kentucky senior center Alyssa Rice guards the ball during the game against Marshall University on Sunday, November 26, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Connor Woods | Staff
December 8, 2017
For the second time this season, the UK women’s basketball team dropped a road game as the Cats fell to Florida Gulf Coast 70-64.
Kentucky began the game slow on the offensive end, starting off 1-5 from the floor. UK led at the beginning, but eventually FGCU caught up to the Cats and snatched the lead, ending the first quarter with a score of 16 to the Cats’ 14.
Taylor Murray had an early eight points at the beginning of the second quarter. UK tied the score at 26 with about four minutes to go in the second quarter, but FGCU went on a 7-0 run.
UK ended the half on a scoring drought for the last 3:22, making the last two of their 10 attempted field goals. Kentucky’s defense also played a part to their fall during the second quarter, having a hard time stopping FGCU on their multiple fast breaks.
The half concluded with a score of 26-35 in FGCU’s favor.
As the third quarter began, Tatyana Wyatt, Alyssa Rice, Maci Morris and Murray, who were four of the five starters for the night, all had two fouls a piece. The offense didn’t do well with them in foul trouble, as Kentucky was shooting 33.3 percent from the field halfway through the third quarter.
During the fourth quarter, Kentucky began to wake up on both ends of the court, outscoring FGCU 6-0 in under a minute with about 7:30 remaining.
Morris hit UK’s first three-pointer of the game in the fourth quarter, which got the offensive rhythm going. The Cats would actually tie the game off an and-one from Rice, but she would miss the extra point to take the lead.
FGCU would respond with a 9-0 in under two minutes, but Kentucky answered with a three-pointer from Jaida Roper and a layup from Murray, all in under 30 seconds.
However, foul trouble started to catch up to the Cats, as Morris fouled out of the game; right after, Murray picked up her fourth foul.
Kentucky failed to come back and beat FGCU, ending the game trailing FGCU by six points. Kentucky’s record fell to 8-2.
Kentucky was the highest ranked team to step foot on FGCU’s court, and this was FGCU’s second time beating a ranked opponent this season.
Murray ended the night as the leading scorer for Kentucky with 19 points and seven rebounds. Rosemarie Julien was the leading scorer for FGCU with 23 points.
