Kentucky Women’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Team Records and Series Notes Kentucky extended its winning streak to six games with a 71-58 upset of No. 11/11 Texas A&M. The Wildcats have won six straight league games by double figures for the first time in program history. The meeting was the seventh all-time between two programs, with Kentucky advancing to 4-2 in the all-time series. The game is Texas A&M’s third loss at home, and second in SEC play. With the win, UK moves to 21-6 on the season, including 10-6 in SEC play. Texas A&M drops to 21-8, 11-5 in the league. Kentucky has reached the 20-win plateau for seven consecutive seasons. Matthew Mitchell is in his ninth season with Kentucky and the win moves him to 245-116 overall, including a 215-87 record while at Kentucky. The attendance for the game was 7,133. Kentucky will have the fifth seed heading into next week’s SEC Tournament. The Wildcats will play the winner of LSU vs. Alabama on Thursday, March 3 at approx. 2:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network. Game Notes Kentucky started with Batouly Camara, Janee Thompson, Maci Morris, Evelyn Akhator and Makayla Epps for the seventh straight game. UK is 6-1 with this lineup. The last time Kentucky defeated a Top-25 SEC opponent on the road was the 83-60 win over then-No. 16/16 Mississippi State on Feb. 18. It marks the third time this season that UK has upset an opponent on the road. Kentucky is now 6-2 against ranked opponents this year. The only two losses came against No. 3 South Carolina. UK’s winning percentage against ranked foes (.750) is the best in program history. Kentucky shot 40.8% (29-of-71) from the floor, holding Texas A&M to 35.5% (22-of-62), tying the Aggies’ season low in shooting efficiency. Texas A&M did not hit a 3-pointer, which is the first time since playing Auburn on Jan. 3. Texas A&M’s 58 points tie the third-lowest scoring output of the season. The Wildcats held a staunch advantage in rebounding, with a 57-32 edge over the Aggies. The last time Kentucky outrebounded an opponent by 20 more was on Feb. 20, 2014 when the Wildcats had a 44-19 edge over South Carolina. UK also held an edge on points in the paint (34-28), second chance points (19-2), fast break points (11-10) and bench points (23-20). Kentucky committed more turnovers than Texas A&M, 16-6. The last time UK had more miscues than its opponent was on Feb. 21 against Arkansas, and the last time that an opponent had fewer than 10 turnovers was on Nov. 25 when Eastern Michigan had nine. The Aggies also had the advantage in points off turnovers, 18-3. The Wildcats were held without a field goal for the first 5:30 of the contest. In that time, Texas A&M started the game on a 10-1 run. UK then retaliated with an 11-3 run. By the end of the first period, UK had cut into A&M’s lead, 14-15. Kentucky took its first lead of the game at the 6:13 mark in the second period courtesy of a Morris layup to swing the score, 21-19. The layup was part of a 9-0 run for the Wildcats. UK retained the lead going into the second half, 30-28. Akhator scored Kentucky’s first six points of the third period to bring the lead to 36-30. Individual Notes Evelyn Akhator (pictured) recorded her 10th career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 18 rebounds. o The last time a UK player pulled down 18 rebounds was on Feb. 27, 2014, when DeNesha Stallworth had 20 boards. o Her 10 offensive rebounds marked a new career high. o She also had two steals to lead the team in the category. Alexis Jennings had her fifth career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. o With Akhator and Jennings’ double-doubles it marks the first time that two UK players have had a double-double in the same game since the two accomplished the feat on Jan. 10 against Georgia. It also marks the first time since that game that two Wildcats have had 10+ rebounds in a game. Makayla Epps added 14 points and led the team with four assists. Maci Morris netted 10 points, going 2-of-5 from 3-point. Janee Thompson also had two 3-pointers, her 17th game this season with at least two triples.