Kentucky women’s basketball (2-0) dominated the South Carolina Upstate Spartans by a score of 82-54 on Saturday.
The Cats entered the game following a 74-66 win over Eastern Tennessee State.
Senior forward Ajae Petty, sophomore guard Amiya Jenkins, sophomore guard Saniah Tyler, junior guard Brooklyn Miles and senior Maddie Scherr all started on the court for the Wildcats.
The matchup marked the regular season debut at Rupp Arena for the Wildcats and they wasted no time getting on the board as they won the tip-off and Petty laid one.
Petty’s opening bucket would set the stage for her to lead the team in scoring with 19 points. She was 9-11 from the floor and 1-2 from the charity stripe.
Petty was one of the five Wildcats in double figures as she was joined by sophomore guard Eniya Russell, who tied her career best at 14 points. Scherr and Miles joined the list with 12 and 10 points respectively. Sophomore forward Zennia Thomas rounded out the list with a new career high of 10 points.
Following the opening bucket, a 6-0 run from the Wildcats that included buckets from Miles and Jenkins kickstarted the offense.
The teams would then trade buckets, however the Wildcats would not surrender the lead.
Scoring would then stop for the Spartans as the Wildcats would go on a 9-0 run to end the first quarter and extend their lead to 25-12.
A game of runs would continue offensively for the Wildcats as the Spartans would go cold again in the second quarter while Kentucky went on a 19-0 run.
Russell opened the run with a layup, which was followed by Tyler making the first bucket from beyond the arch and, when the dust settled, the Wildcats led to 45-19.
Petty would begin the scoring in the second half with a layup that would be the final points of the Wildcats 19-0 run and moved them even further out in front.
Both teams would then trade buckets back-and-forth with the Spartans winning the exchange of points 14-8.
The trend would continue throughout the rest of the quarter with the Wildcats scoring 12 of the next 20 points in the game to bring their lead to 66-40 going into the final quarter of action.
The third quarter saw both teams tie at 21 points a piece and also marked the Spartans highest scoring quarter of the night.
“I thought in the third we let our defense rest,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said. “Defensively we sat behind in the post, we weren’t switching, we gave up some open threes so being able to sustain our defense, no matter the score.”
Kentucky would also have a mood dampener in the fourth quarter when Scherr left the game and did not return after limping to the bench following the free throw.
“This is what I love about Maddie, I went down to the bench to check on her and she goes, ‘Oh coach, I’m OK now. It hurt for a second, but I can go back in if you need me,’” Elzy said. “I’m like, ‘No, you’re not going back.’ But she always says that she’s OK, but our medical staff will treat her and we hope to have her back Tuesday.”
To finish out the game offensively, the Wildcats took 10 of the final 18 points scored, which resulted in the 82-54 final score.
The Wildcats finished 32-66 (48.5%) from the floor, 16-22 (72.2%) from the free throw line and 2-18 (11%) from the 3-point line.
“We’re better shooters than we are showing for the last two games from the three point line,” Elzy said.
The Wildcats will look to improve to 3-0 when they take Austin Peay on Tuesday, Nov.14, in Georgetown, Kentucky, at the Davis-Reid Alumni Gym at 6 p.m. ET. The game will air live on SEC Network.
