The No. 19 UK women’s basketball team had an off day offensively Sunday afternoon, but still cruised to an easy victory over the Radford Highlanders winning 59-36.

The 59 points from the Cats was the lowest point total in a game all season. Luckily for the Cats, Radford’s 36 points was the lowest amount of points an opponent has scored against UK all season.

“We really tried to get better defensively after that disappointing loss last Sunday,” head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “Happy for our players, and this was a good win today.”

Radford also committed 19 turnovers, which was the most turnovers a team has committed against the Cats all season. UK turned those 19 turnovers into 19 points.

The Cats were able to open up a big lead in the second quarter, when Radford only made one shot in the final 7:47 off the quarter. The Cats would go on a 10-0 run during that span, and open up a 16-point lead at halftime.

In the second half, Radford did a better job defensively, holding the Cats to just 34 percent shooting in the half. Radford was not able to take advantage however as they did little to no damage in shortening UK’s lead. 

UK led for all but 27 seconds of the game, including a 25-point lead with 3:36 left to go in the game. This was the fifth time this season where the Cats won a game by over 20 points. 

Starting guard Taylor Murray was out of today’s game with a left hand injury, and freshman Jaida Roper took Murray’s place in the starting lineup and provided big minutes.

Roper would finish with 2 points and 4 assists in 25 minutes. Despite the lack of scoring, Roper played great defense and forced some of Radford’s many turnovers.

“It was a good time for me to step up, get some more minutes and play hard,” Roper said. “My head was just do your job, just go out there, play hard, try not to turn the ball over.” 

Despite Radford’s overwhelming size, the Cats were able to out-rebound the Highlanders 43-35. Rebounding was a big emphasis in practice all week following rough performances on the glass in recent games. 

The Cats’ next game will be the final home game of the calendar year, as the Washington State Cougars will travel to Memorial Coliseum to face the Cats on Dec. 21. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for noon.