The No. 20 UK women’s basketball team will go to their Thanksgiving dinner table happy, coming away with a win the day before the holiday. The Cats got a 74-47 victory over Morehead State at Memorial Coliseum Wednesday.

With the win, the Cats improve to 4-1 this season, with their only loss coming from Colorado in a road game. 

The Cats took advantage of the Eagles in the paint as the Eagles only had one player who is over six feet tall, and she spent half of the game on the bench, and only contributed two points and two rebounds. 

With the advantage, the Cats outscored Morehead State 40-6 in the paint. The Cats did a good job of driving in the lane getting easy layups, as well as getting the bigs opportunities to get points when they got open.

The Cats also did a good job crashing the boards, as UK secured 12 more rebounds than the Eagles. Evelyn Akhator led the way for the Cats with nine rebounds, which was not enough to complete the double-double for Akhator, who had recorded double-doubles in the first four games of the season.

5’6” guard Taylor Murray recorded the second most rebounds on the team with eight. Murray was also the team’s leading scorer for the first time this season, as she scored 18 points off 62 percent shooting from the floor. 

This is the first year Murray has been a full time starter, and Murray has done a good job transitioning from bench player to starter.

Murray was not the only starter who would score in double figures, as three other starters, including Akhator, scored double-digit points. This was the second game in a row where four of the five starters scored in double-digit points.

While the Cats did a good job of returning to form offensively, they also returned to form defensively as they locked down the Eagles with a tough defense that had worked so well the first few games. The Eagles only shot 23 percent from the court Wednesday evening, while only put up two points in the second quarter.

The lack of scoring from the Eagles in the second quarter allowed the Cats to open up a large lead, and they never looked back as the Cats led by double-digits for the rest of the game following halftime.

The Cats will now enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving dinner before the take the court again on Nov. 27, to take on the Samford Bulldogs at Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff for the game is set for 2 p.m.