The No. 9 Cats came out with a rumble against No. 2 South Carolina Thursday night at Memorial Coliseum, but couldn’t seem to keep the rumble rolling.  

Junior guard Makayla Epps captured seven points for the Cats in the first quarter to lead the Gamecocks 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. Epps leads UK in scoring on the season, averaging 16.1 points per game. She ended the game with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists.

The momentum did not change much in the second quarter as UK ended the half leading USC 32-28.

“Kentucky came out with their foot on the gas because that’s the kind of team they are,” Gamecocks senior guard Khadijah Sessions said. “We had to adjust.”

Senior Janee Thompson, who comes second in scoring for UK (12.8 ppg,) added six points for the Cats in the second quarter. She ended the game with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists. Although Thompson played well on offense, she said the defensive performance was frustrating.

“I’m disappointed in the way we guarded the ball,” Thompson said. “We are going to change that in practice.” 

Sophomore Alexis Jennings also added six points for the Cats in the second quarter. Jennings later fouled out with a little over two minutes to go in the ga

me. She finished with eight points and six rebounds.

What made the real difference is what happened inside the paint. UK triumphed over USC with 24 of its 32 points in the paint in the first half while USC only had 12 points in the paint. UK also out rebounded USC in the first half by a pair of rebounds, only to be out-rebounded in the second half, a huge impact for the Gamecocks. 

After UK led the entire first half, there were three lead changes in the third quarter. The last lead change ended up with USC on top going into the fourth quarter, where it kept the lead for the remainder of the game. 

No. 2 USC took the 73-62 win to keep a perfect record of 16-0, giving the No. 9 Cats its second loss of the season and putting them at a record of 13-2 on the season.

USC sophomore A’ja Wilson was the star of the game. She finished the game flirting with a triple-double, which UK’s Epps called, “NBA numbers.” Wilson said she didn’t even know she was close to a triple-double until she saw the stat sheet after the game.

“it didn’t feel any different than any other game,” Wilson said, who put up 26 points, 13 rebounds and had eight blocked shots against the Cats.

“It shows how special A’ja Wilson is as a player,” USC Head Coach Dawn Staley said after the game. “She’s a player that can play a lot of different ways. She’s very versatile.”

UK Head Coach Matthew Mitchell spoke highly of 6-foot-5 Wilson, who put a beat down on UK, after the game.

“She plays hard and has a great attitude. She goes out there and gets it done,” Mitchell said. “I thought that was the difference of the night. They had A’ja Wilson and we didn’t.”