Three takeaways from Kentucky’s women’s basketball win at Auburn
At the fifth time of asking, the Kentucky women’s basketball team delivered.
UK finally won its first road game of the season Tuesday night, defeating Auburn 67-55.
The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for head coach Kyra Elzy’s team and gave the Wildcats their first victory away from Memorial Coliseum after losses to Indiana, Louisville, South Carolina and Tennessee.
UK saw a 13-point lead established in the second quarter evaporate by the fourth quarter, but clutch shooting in the closing minutes — in particular by star guard Rhyne Howard — helped carry the Cats over the finish line to a much-needed win.
Kentucky 67, Auburn 55
The star: Rhyne Howard once again led the Cats in scoring with 29 points. Howard scored 17 in the fourth quarter.
The stats: Jazmine Massengill joined Howard in double-figure scoring for Kentucky with 11 points. Emma King added a significant 10 points off the bench, a career-high total for King.
The status: Kentucky improves to 9-7 overall and 2-4 in the SEC. Auburn drops to 8-10 overall and 0-7 in the SEC.
Three takeaways
1. KENTUCKY USES STRONG START AND FINISH TO SPARK ROAD WIN.
For the first time since a Jan. 6 home win over Georgia, UK scored at least 20 points in the first quarter.
Six of the seven available Wildcats scored in the opening period, reflecting a balanced scoring approach that helped get UK off to a quality start on the road. While the sparse crowd inside the Auburn Arena was hardly an intimidating environment, UK hadn’t won a road game all year and this start gave UK a much-needed shot of confidence.
Howard led UK in the opening quarter with seven points.
“In the first quarter I thought we attacked in transition and we finished at the rim,” Elzy said. “We attacked the paint. We got open shots that we knocked down in the first quarter. And that was our goal, we needed to get off to a good start and we did that today.”
But, the 13-point lead that UK had in the second quarter was gone by the fourth period, when Auburn took its first lead of the game. Howard rose to the occasion down the stretch though, scoring 17 points in the final period to help guide the Wildcats to a victory.
“When it’s Rhyne time, she takes over,” Elzy said, noting that Howard’s versatility allowed her to play some minutes in the post against Auburn. “I’m glad it was Rhyne time today.”
“Just stepping up and being a leader for my teammates,” Howard added. “(Auburn) ended up taking the lead and I was like ‘We’re not losing this game. We’ve worked so hard to get back in the win column. We’re going to come out on top.’”
Tuesday night marked the fourth straight game that Howard has led the Wildcats in scoring.
Howard has now scored at least 24 points against all 13 other Southeastern Conference schools.
UK finished the game on a 17-2 scoring run.
2. ONCE AGAIN, KENTUCKY HAD ONLY SEVEN PLAYERS AVAILABLE.
For the second straight game, UK only had seven players available to play Tuesday night at Auburn.
Freshman walk-on guard Kristen Crenshaw-Gill missed the game with an ankle injury. Senior guard and regular starter Robyn Benton also missed the game with an ankle injury.
Redshirt junior forward Dre’una Edwards — who is Kentucky’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder — was out for the third-straight game due to a team-imposed suspension. This was the fourth game this season Edwards missed due to a suspension.
Edwards was not with the team in Auburn.
Given these absences, UK used what has become its new normal starting lineup: Senior guard Jazmine Massengill, freshman guard Jada Walker, senior guard Rhyne Howard, sophomore guard Treasure Hunt and junior center Olivia Owens.
Junior guard Emma King and sophomore forward Nyah Leveretter were the two bench options for UK on Tuesday night, and King in particular played a vital role in the UK win.
King scored a career-best 10 points in the game, including six points in the third quarter while Howard didn’t score in the period.
“Emma always brings a spark off the bench,” Howard said. “She’s always going to work hard no matter what’s happening, what’s going on in the game. We can just count on her to make the little plays like diving on the floor, getting loose balls and just running the court, crazy layups.”
Elzy said that a few weeks ago, she and King met to discuss what King needed to provide the Wildcats with as the SEC season continued. Elzy told King that while King’s work ethic was admirable, it needed to translate to in-game results.
“She stepped up and made some big shots for us today down the stretch when we had to have them,” Elzy said. “Her hustle plays defensively . . . she is the epitome of what I want a Kentucky Wildcat to be.”
“She’s playing loose and she’s playing confident, but she has put in the work in order to see success.”
Despite the fact UK had only seven players for Tuesday’s game, a potential injury to a key player may have occurred.
With less than one minute left in the game, Walker left with an apparent ankle injury.
Elzy had no update on Walker’s injury status postgame when asked by the Herald-Leader.
Elzy also said that Benton is “day-to-day” with her ankle injury. Elzy said “still dealing with internal issues” when asked about Edwards’ team suspension.
3. IN ITS FIFTH TRY, UK FINALLY GOT A ROAD WIN.
It took five tries, but Kentucky finally earned its first road win.
UK’s previous four road games this season were some of the most difficult road games you could possibly play, with trips to Indiana, Louisville, South Carolina and Tennessee. All four schools are currently ranked in the top six of the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.
While there is an obvious decline in talent between those schools and Auburn, a team far removed from the NCAA Tournament picture, simply winning a road game has become a noteworthy accomplishment for Kentucky.
“It’s huge, I’d say we’re back to having a little bit of fun with the game,” Howard said. “Losing gets tiring and we were tired, very much tired.”
Thursday night’s game at Vanderbilt, much like Tuesday’s game at Auburn, should be viewed as an expected win for Kentucky, as a loss would do damage to UK’s already frail NCAA Tournament hopes.
In his latest bracketology released Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Charlie Creme has Kentucky in the First Four Out of the NCAA Tournament.
Up next
Kentucky will continue a three-game SEC road trip on Thursday night at Vanderbilt, which like Auburn, is one of the worst teams in the SEC. Vanderbilt is fresh off a 55-point loss at No. 1 South Carolina and holds a 10-10 overall record with a 1-5 mark in SEC games. Vanderbilt averages an-SEC worst 62.1 points scored per game and has lost its last five contests. Kentucky beat Vanderbilt in Lexington last season, 80-73, before the Commodores elected to not continue playing their season the next day.
Next game
Kentucky at Vanderbilt
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
TV: SEC Network Plus (online)
