Kentucky womens basketball picked up its fifth consecutive loss against the undefeated No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks on Thursday, being defeated 95-66.

The loss moves the Cats to 8-9 on the season with the team still yet to find a victory in SEC play.

Despite the final score, the 29-point loss did not reflect the dominance on display by Kentucky in the first half. The Cats went on a 16-0 run early, which allowed the Wildcats to take a nine-point lead over Gamecocks.

Once the Gamecocks eventually took back control, Kentucky’s energy carried on as the Cats were still able to stay on South Carolina’s heels for the majority of the game with huge contributions from Maddie Scherr and Jada Walker.

Scherr finished the game with a career-high 25 points, leading the Cats in scoring for the second game in a row after she put up 20 points last week against LSU.

The junior from Florence, Kentucky, netted 10 of her 15 attempted field goals with five of those baskets coming from the 3-point line.

Walker’s aggressiveness with the ball shined once again against the Gamecocks as she reached 17 points and three rebounds.

While it is no doubt frustrating to be in a losing drought, the energy that the Wildcats brought against the No. 1 team in womens college basketball seemed to bring some encouragement to Kentucky.

“Obviously, no one had us pick to win that game,” Scherr said. “We had nothing to lose and everything to gain. We went out there and executed really well. We were hitting shots and more importantly we were getting stops on the other end.”

Even in the face of Kentucky’s losing streak, Memorial Coliseum was packed with fans who went wild on Kentucky’s big runs – something that does not go unnoticed by the coaches and players.

“I want to give a big shout-out to BBN,” head coach Kyra Elzy said. “Even through tough times. It was electric in there (Memorial Coliseum) tonight. That’s the energy we need, and they feed off of it, our players deserve it. The outcome is still not what we want it to be, we will get there, but to have fans that still support us through this journey is very important to us.”

Kentucky will take the road this weekend to face the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday, Jan. 15, at 3 p.m. EST. The game can be streamed on the SEC Network.