Kentucky Women’s Basketball (5-7) defeated the Furman Paladins (7-6) by a score of 75-45 on Sunday.
Ajae Petty, Maddie Scherr, Cassidy Rowe, Emma King and Brooklynn Miles started the game for the Wildcats.
“I rewarded her for her practices and I thought she stepped up and was solid today,” head coach Kyra Elzy said on the decision to start Rowe.
Scherr wasted no time getting onto the stat sheet as she used a Paladins turnover to sink a 3-pointer and open the scoring.
Two layups from Petty were only met with one point from the Paladins as the Wildcats extended their lead to 7-1.
Furman was able to generate some offense and creep back into the game as the Wildcats lead shrunk to 13-10, something that was only strengthened when the Cats’ offense stalled at the end of the quarter and was held scoreless for the last 2:28, bringing the score to 16-15 after one quarter.
The Wildcats offense came back to life quickly in the second quarter with an 8-0 run that saw 3-pointers by Scherr and sophomore Saniah Tyler and another Petty layup to bring the lead to 24-15.
Offense for the Wildcats stalled once again as they were held scoreless for 3:21, but the defense stiffened up and only let up two Furman points. Following the sequence both teams went back and forth with Furman hanging around in the game while still trialing 28-23.
However, the Wildcats offense came back to life and went on a 9-0 run to close out the half and take a 37-23 lead into the locker room.
“We won that quarter 21-8 just because I think we really learned you can’t let up,” Scherr said about what the team has learned from a tough loss at Louisville.
The third quarter saw minimal scoring through the first four minutes as nine combined turnovers only resulted in two buckets each, but Kentucky began to pull away late in the third and was able to use another 9-0 run to create separation and take a 57-35 lead into the fourth quarter. The offense kept the momentum going by putting up back-to-back buckets to finish off the run with 11 straight points.
Furman was able to score a little bit in the fourth, but it was too little, too late as the Wildcats were able to finish the quarter and game with the 75-45 lead.
Tyler led the scoring for the Wildcats with 17 points and finished 3-3 from the 3-point line. Just behind her was Petty, who had 16 points and nine rebounds. Scherr finished with 13 points and was 3-7 from deep with a team leading eight assists.
“It was so nice to see the three-ball go in at Rupp Arena today — 41% — so that’s always a happy day for the Wildcats,” Elzy said.
The Wildcats return to action on Thursday, Dec. 21, when they will take on Lipscomb inside Rupp Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.
