The No. 12 UK women’s basketball team endured yet another loss on Sunday against the Florida Gators, 85-79 in the O’Connell Center. This is the second straight loss in Southeastern Conference play for the Cats. 

UK now has a 15-5 record overall in the season and has fallen to 4-5 in SEC play. The Gators are now 18-4 on the season and have moved up to 6-3 in SEC play. 

UK star and leading scorer Makayla Epps tried her best to help the Cats with a game-high 27 points, but it was not enough to keep the Gators from earning their third win over a ranked opponent this season. Epps also added seven rebounds and three steals. 

The Lebanon, Kentucky, native was one of four UK players to score double-digits against Florida. Janee Thompson added 16 points, shooting 6-of-11 from the field. Maci Morris gave the Cats 10 points and Evelyn Akhator ended the game with another double-double on the year, scoring 14 points and 10 rebounds. 

On the other hand, Florida’s Simone Westbrook scored a career-high 20 points, including three three-pointers. Haley Lorenzen racked up 18 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the field for the Gators. She was a layup away from her career-best scoring performance. 

Florida’s Eleanna Christinaki, however, might have made the difference for the Gators. The freshman scored the final five points of the game, which included a big time steal resulting in a three point play with only four seconds remaining in the game. 

Florida led by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter before the Cats went on an 18-8 run to bring the game within two points. An assist by Christinaki to teammate Ronni Williams brought the Gators to a four-point advantage with 26 seconds left in the game. 

The Cats broke a season-high record with a disappointing 30 turnovers, topping its previous season high of 26 against Auburn on Jan. 2. The Gators turned those turnovers into 24 points on their end. 

“We had 30 turnovers and we were still in position to win the game,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “That says something about the fight of this team.”

Florida led the Cats for more than 35 minutes in the game and never gave up the lead in the second half. Florida also killed the Cats in points in paint, with 50 points opposed to UK’s 28 points.

The Gators’ 85 points is the most UK has allowed this season, ending a program-tying stretch of limiting 19 straight opponents to 73 points or less.

Despite the second consecutive loss for the Cats, Mitchell still believes the team is moving in the right direction.

“There has been improvement in each game, it’s just not showing on the scoreboard right now,” Mitchell said. 

UK Hoops returns to action Thursday night at 7 p.m. to face the No. 2 South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia. The game airs on the SEC Network.