Kentucky women’s basketball (9-10, 2-3) defeated the Missouri Tigers (11-8, 2-4) 76-71 on Sunday afternoon inside Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats entered the SEC matchup winless in their last three games and, in that stretch, the Cats most recently suffered a disastrous 98-36 loss to South Carolina on Jan. 15.
“It was a tough loss, we needed to come back today and show the world what we’re made of,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said.
The Tigers, however, defeated the Georgia Lady Bulldogs 69-57 and grabbed their second conference victory of the year, improving to 2-3 in their last five games.
The game tipped off and Emma King sank a 3-pointer right off the bat, but Missouri then scored on its first attempt down the court, resulting in each team starting 1-1 from the field.
At the first media timeout, Missouri led 13-7 with King having five of Kentucky’s seven points.
When the first quarter concluded Missouri led 20-16 with Eniya Russell scoring the most first quarter points for the Cats with six while Hayley Frank led the Tigers with seven.
Missouri came out of the break and scored two points before Kentucky pasted the Tigers with seven straight points, resulting in a Missouri timeout.
Out of the timeout, Kentucky tacked on two more points as Saniah Tyler sank two shots from the charity stripe before Missouri finally answered back with Mama Dembele going 1-2 on two free-throws of her own.
Kentucky then went on another small streak, scoring five and forcing Missouri to call its second timeout of the quarter with 4:18 to go to lead 30-23.
As the rest of the first half played out Missouri nudged its way back in, scoring nine points while Kentucky finished the last four minutes by putting up eight points of its own.
UK’s 22 second-quarter points outweighed Missouri’s 12, leading Kentucky into the break up 38-32.
Brooklynn Miles scored the first basket out of halftime, improving the Wildcats’ lead to eight, but moments later Kentucky’s leader in points, rebounds and blocks Ajae Petty suffered a lower-leg injury, resulting in Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy to run the floor with five guards.
With Petty out of the game, Missouri went on a five-point run, resulting in a Kentucky timeout.
Thankfully for Kentucky, Petty returned moments later, though she was quiet the rest of the third quarter, only putting up two points off of two free throws in the dying seconds.
Kentucky entered the fourth quarter with a 55-50 lead under its belt while Maddie Scherr led the way with 16 points throughout 30 minutes of play.
In the fourth-and-final quarter, Missouri scored the first basket, but Kentucky then threw up eight straight points in the first 2:18, forcing a Missouri timeout.
The two teams ran up the score to 71 and, with 1:15 to go, Russell sank a mid-range jump shot that gave Kentucky a two-point edge.
Kentucky would get fouled in its offensive zone and, through the power of late free-throws, the Wildcats sealed the game.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight today,” Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton said, “Kyra has a great team – great staff – very deceiving in regards to their (Kentucky’s) record.”
The Wildcats are back in action on Jan. 25 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they look to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks for the second time this season. The game can be viewed on SEC Network+ at 8 p.m. ET.
