The Kentucky women’s basketball team is beginning to run out of chances.
Projected to be on the outside of the NCAA Tournament picture, UK had an opportunity Sunday afternoon at No. 12 LSU to pick up its second signature win of the season and boost its fleeting postseason hopes.
But despite leading by five points after the third quarter, UK was unable to close things out down the stretch as LSU came away 78-69 victors.
Freshman guard Jada Walker had a career-high 21 points and was a major reason why UK led both at halftime and after three quarters, but down the stretch it was LSU and graduate student guard Khayla Pointer who played better. Nineteen of Pointer’s 28 points came in the final period.
LSU outscored UK 30-16 in the fourth quarter.
Fatigue might have played a factor as UK was again short-handed and Kyra Elzy’s team was playing its fourth game in eight days.
Kentucky has now lost six of its last seven games.
LSU 78, Kentucky 69
The star: Freshman guard Jada Walker had a career day, scoring 21 points, including 15 in the first half.
The stats: Senior guard Rhyne Howard led UK in scoring with 23 points. Howard had a double-double with 12 rebounds to go with her scoring output. Howard moved up to second on Kentucky’s all-time scoring list with 2,023 points — behind Valerie Still (2,763) and ahead of A’dia Mathies (2,014).
“She’s truly one of a kind,” Kyra Elzy said of Howard. “To sit back and watch her grow as a player from her freshman year to her senior year, she continues to get better … She continues to put her heart on the floor and give all that she has for her teammates and this program.”
Dre’una Edwards had 10 points in her return to the UK team. LSU’s Khayla Pointer was dominant in the final period, scoring 19 of her 28 points in the fourth.
The status: LSU is 18-4 overall and 6-3 in the SEC. Kentucky is 9-9 overall and 2-6 in the SEC.
Three takeaways
1. UK REGAINS TWO STARTERS BUT LOSES ANOTHER.
It was a case of bad news and good news for the Kentucky roster ahead of Sunday’s game.
The Wildcats welcomed back redshirt junior forward Dre’una Edwards, who missed UK’s previous four games due to a team-imposed suspension. Edwards — who leads Kentucky in rebounds per game and is second on the team in scoring — didn’t start the game for UK.
Also returning for UK on Sunday was sophomore guard Treasure Hunt, who often plays in the post. Hunt missed Thursday night’s loss at Vanderbilt due to an unspecified injury that flared up during pregame warmups.
But while those two players returned, starting point guard Jazmine Massengill dropped out of the lineup. Massengill was unavailable for Sunday’s game due to being in concussion protocol stemming from the Vanderbilt game. Another senior guard, Robyn Benton, remained sidelined with an ankle injury for the fourth straight game.
Kentucky had eight total players — seven scholarship players — available to play in Sunday’s game as freshman walk-on guard Kristen Crenshaw-Gill also returned from an ankle injury.
All seven scholarship players for Kentucky appeared in the game within the first five minutes of it starting.
Edwards fouled out late and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“She makes us different on both ends of the floor. Her ability to stretch the defense with the pick and pop,” Elzy said of Edwards. “She can rebound. She can lead the break. So it was good to have Dre back.”
2. JADA WALKER HAS A BREAKOUT SEC GAME.
Freshman guard Jada Walker has been an integral part of this UK team all season long, and she made her ninth overall and fifth consecutive start this season on Sunday at LSU.
Her scoring spark and defensive intensity has been on display plenty of times this season, in particular when she scored a former career-best 18 points during a December home loss to DePaul.
But Walker was yet to have a similar breakout moment in SEC play, that is until Sunday.
Walker scored 15 first-half points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Walker led all scorers in the game at halftime and was a major reason why the Cats held a one-point halftime lead.
Walker only made one shot in the third quarter, but it was an and-one completed right before the buzzer sounded to give UK a five-point lead entering the final period.
Walker finished with 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting from the field and was 4-for-5 from three-point range.
“Taking her time, trying to finish at the rim. If she didn’t have it, back it out,” Elzy said of Walker. “During dribble penetration she was moving, she got some open threes, rhythm threes are good for her. But overall, her mindset of confidence that she had to step up when this team needed her (to). And she did that.”
3. UK MISSED A BIG CHANCE TO BOOST ITS NCAA TOURNAMENT PROFILE.
Simply put, UK is running out of time to boost its NCAA Tournament profile.
The Wildcats are currently projected by ESPN’s Charlie Creme to miss the NCAA Tournament, and Elzy’s team only has one win against another team currently projected to make the tourney (Georgia).
“I’m proud of the effort. We came here to win, we came here to battle,” Elzy said after Sunday’s loss. “We talked about whether we have five, six or seven (players), if you step on that floor we’re going to compete. We’re going to leave it on the floor, and I thought we did that today.”
Certain factors have to be taken into account, such as UK being 1-4 in games that Edwards has been suspended for and injuries to the likes of Benton and Massengill.
But at the end of the day results are what matter, and this UK team has a .500 overall record and a lack of quality wins. The depth and quality of the SEC means that UK will keep getting chances to score impressive wins, but the Wildcats at some point need to take advantage of those opportunities.
Up next
The next thing on the schedule for Kentucky women’s basketball is rest. The Wildcats have played four games in the last eight days. UK has been short-handed for all of these games. Now, UK gets a full week off before its next game Sunday afternoon against Texas A&M. The Aggies are 11-9 overall this season and 1-7 in SEC play. Texas A&M lost by 20 points on Sunday at Mississippi State. Like Kentucky, Texas A&M began this season as a mainstay in the Associated Press Top 25 poll before later dropping out.
Next game
Texas A&M at Kentucky
When: Noon Sunday
TV: ESPN2
This story was originally published January 30, 2022 4:12 PM.