UK Hoops held off a tough South Carolina team at home to stay a perfect 18-0 this evening at Memorial Coliseum 53-50.
Junior guard A’dia Mathies scored a team-high 21 points, grabbed six rebounds and passed out a team-high two assists. Mathies’ 21 points give her 1,341 points in her career. She is now 14th on the all-time scoring list and is 17 points shy of tying Kristi Cushenberry at No. 13.
Freshman guard Bria Goss scored 14 points. It was Goss’ 21st double-figure scoring game of the season, the fourth most in UK freshman history. Goss is one game shy of tying Maria Donhoff (1977-78) for third.
Mathies and Goss combined to hit 14 of Kentucky’s 20 field goals, and scored 35 of the Wildcats’ 53 points.
Kentucky lead 23-21 at the half, led by Mathies’ eleven, and even though the Kentucky defense held South Carolina scoreless for the last 5:37 of the half, the game was tight throughout the contest.
The game was back and forth throughout the second half with South Carolina getting as close as 2 points, but the Wildcats found a way to end even through some poor judgement at the end of regulation.
With 8.0 seconds left in the game, Bria Goss hit one free throw to give Kentucky a 51-48 lead.
After getting the rebound off Goss’ second free throw, Maegan Conwright hit both of her free throws with 4.2 seconds left to give UK a 53-48 lead.
Kentucky was assessed a technical foul after Bria Goss stole the South Carolina inbound pass, up by 5 points, and called a timeout that the Wildcats did not have. South Carolina then hit both free throws to narrow the UK lead to three at 53-50.
With 3.0 seconds left, South Carolina inbounded underneath the Kentucky basket, but Maegan Conwright stole the South Carolina inbounds pass to seal the win for Kentucky.
Matthew Mitchell also received some good news after the game, as Tennessee lost at home to Arkansas and put them in for at least a share of the SEC Title. Kentucky has to beat Mississippi State in Starkville to win the regular season outright.
Kentucky improves to 23-5, 12-3 SEC, while South Carolina falls to 20-8, 9-6.
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