WBB: No. 1 South Carolina pulls away from Kentucky 95-66
Jan. 12, 2023
No. 1 South Carolina did its part Thursday to make last season’s SEC championship game a distant memory. The Gamecocks (17-0, 5-0 SEC) withstood an early spurt from Kentucky, outscored the Wildcats by 21 points in the fourth quarter, and came away with a 95-66 road victory. Kentucky (8-9, 0-5 SEC) employed a full-court press early on in the game to disrupt South Carolina ball handlers. The Gamecocks managed to get past it early on and find Aliyah Boston in its half-court sets. Boston scored 10 points in the first quarter.
The Wildcats got good production from Jada Walker and Maddie Scherr, with Walker getting to the rim for layups and Scherr supplying outside shooting. The Gamecocks led 20-17 entering the second quarter. Kentucky took control of the game with an explosive start to the quarter. After scoring the last four points of the first quarter, it extended that run to a 16-0 burst. The team led by as many as 10 points in the period, and the Wildcats’ fans increased their cheering after every make basket in that stretch.
The Gamecocks didn’t stay down for long, though. The team went on a 16-0 run of its own to take a six-point lead and led by four heading into the second half. Though the Wildcats knocked on the door at times, Carolina stayed in the lead for the rest of the game. The Gamecocks ran away with the game late, scoring 36 fourth-quarter points. The Wildcats dealt Carolina one of its two losses in its 2021-22 season on a last-second 3-pointer in the SEC tournament finals. South Carolina will have another shot at a revenge game on Sunday when it takes on Missouri at home the only other team to defeat the Gamecocks last year.
Jan. 12, 2023
No. 1 South Carolina did its part Thursday to make last season’s SEC championship game a distant memory. The Gamecocks (17-0, 5-0 SEC) withstood an early spurt from Kentucky, outscored the Wildcats by 21 points in the fourth quarter, and came away with a 95-66 road victory. Kentucky (8-9, 0-5 SEC) employed a full-court press early on in the game to disrupt South Carolina ball handlers. The Gamecocks managed to get past it early on and find Aliyah Boston in its half-court sets. Boston scored 10 points in the first quarter.
The Wildcats got good production from Jada Walker and Maddie Scherr, with Walker getting to the rim for layups and Scherr supplying outside shooting. The Gamecocks led 20-17 entering the second quarter. Kentucky took control of the game with an explosive start to the quarter. After scoring the last four points of the first quarter, it extended that run to a 16-0 burst. The team led by as many as 10 points in the period, and the Wildcats’ fans increased their cheering after every make basket in that stretch.
The Gamecocks didn’t stay down for long, though. The team went on a 16-0 run of its own to take a six-point lead and led by four heading into the second half. Though the Wildcats knocked on the door at times, Carolina stayed in the lead for the rest of the game. The Gamecocks ran away with the game late, scoring 36 fourth-quarter points. The Wildcats dealt Carolina one of its two losses in its 2021-22 season on a last-second 3-pointer in the SEC tournament finals. South Carolina will have another shot at a revenge game on Sunday when it takes on Missouri at home the only other team to defeat the Gamecocks last year.