LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the 15th-ranked Kentucky women's basketball team held off Missouri 61-55 on Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky (13-4, 6-3 SEC) got 10 points and nine rebounds from Dre'una Edwards and seven points apiece from Robyn Benton and Chasity Patterson.
The Cats made just 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) of their shots in the game, including just three of 13 (23.1 percent) from behind the arc. Meanwhile, Missouri made 20 of 52 (38.5 percent) from the field and just one of 18 (5.6 percent) from behind the arc.
Kentucky's bench came up big in this game, outscoring Missouri's bench 21-6. Kentucky also had a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
In the fourth quarter, after Kentucky took a 50-44 lead on a Patterson layup with 6:03 left, Missouri scored eight in a row, including five straight by Hayley Frank, to lead 52-50 with 3:56 left. Missouri would add an Aijha Blackwell free throw with 3:23 to play to lead 53-50. UK got a pair of Edwards free throws with 3:00 left to cut the lead to 53-52. Then Edwards gave the Cats the lead back on a putback with 2:07 remaining.
Missouri's Williams missed a pair of free throws with 1:43 to play and Howard followed by making a pair of charity tosses with 1:29 to go. Kentucky led 56-53 at that point. But Williams responded with a spinning layup with 1:07 to play, cutting the UK lead to 56-55.
UK's Patterson was fouled with 35.5 seconds left and she made the second of two free throws to give the Cats a 57-55 lead. After Missouri failed to score, Kentucky called timeout to advance the ball into the front court. After the timeout, McKinney was fouled and she nailed both free throws to extend the UK lead to 59-55 with 15.7 seconds to play.
The Kentucky defense stood tall again on the next Missouri possession, holding the Tigers at bay. Missouri's Haley Troup would miss a shot in the lane and Howard would end up with the ball. She was fouled with 0.3 seconds left and she made both free throws to complete the scoring.
UK returns to action on Thursday night, visiting Oxford, Mississippi, to take on Ole Miss. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.
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