COLUMBIA, S.C. Sophomore point guard Carly Ormerod (Louisville, Ky.) scored a game-high 17 points Sunday and Kentucky shot 40.4 percent from the floor, but South Carolina out-rebounded the Wildcats by their largest margin this season, 53-33, and took a 66-56 win Sunday in the Colonial Center.
Kentucky (14-8, 3-4 Southeastern Conference), playing its seventh game decided by 10 or fewer points in its last eight outings, held a 44-43 advantage with 9:09 remaining in the game. South Carolina (13-9, 3-4 SEC), however, went on a 9-0 run over the next 2:29 to take a 52-44 lead and put the game out of reach.
The Gamecocks, who entered the game sixth in the nation in rebounding margin, brought down 24 offensive rebounds in the game and out-scored Kentucky 19-7 in second-chance points. South Carolina used balanced scoring to defeat the Wildcats as the Gamecocks? reserves out-scored the UK bench 35-18.
“South Carolina did an unbelievable job rebounding the ball, and we just did not battle them on the boards,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?They had 24 offensive rebounds which is just unbelievable. It is hard to beat a team that has that many offensive rebounds. I felt like our defense was good enough to win the game tonight, but we just were not finishing and not boxing out.”
Ormerod, who has scored in double-figures in three consecutive games, shot 7-of-13 from the floor and also added a game-high five assists in 37 minutes of action. Junior guard Samantha Mahoney (Detroit) added 10 points after becoming the 25th member of UK?s 1,000-point club last Thursday. Senior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey (Memphis) led the Kentucky rebounding effort for the 12th time this season with eight boards.
South Carolina broke out to an early 11-6 advantage at the 14:20 mark of the first half before the Wildcats cut their deficit to 11-10 on a pair of free throws by Ormerod. Lakesha Tolliver knocked down four consecutive free throws to push USC?s lead back to four, 15-10, with 11:12 remaining in the opening period.
After a jumper by Watkins, South Carolina scored six consecutive points to take its largest lead of the opening period at 21-12 with 6:22 left until halftime. The Gamecocks led 28-26 at halftime despite shooting 27.0 percent (10-of-37) from the floor and allowing the Wildcats to shoot 47.4 percent (9-of-19). South Carolina forced 12 first-half Kentucky turnovers.
The two teams battled evenly out of the halftime locker room with three ties over the period?s first four minutes. A lay-up by Mahoney at the 13:22 mark gave the Wildcats their first lead of the second half at 38-37. After two more ties, the Gamecocks went up by two, 43-41, but freshman forward Lydia Watkins (Hopkinsville, Ky.) responded with her first of two three-pointers to give the Cats a 44-43 edge with 9:09 left.
From there, South Carolina scored nine unanswered points and took a 52-44 lead with 6:40 remaining in the game. Kentucky kept fighting to come as close as three, 57-54, with 3:29 left on a lay-up by Ormerod, but the Gamecocks out-scored the Wildcats 9-2 over the remainder of the game.
Watkins, who connected on just the second and third three-pointers of her career Sunday, tied her career high with eight points.
Melanie Johnson led South Carolina with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. It was the second consecutive double-double for Johnson.
Kentucky returns to action Thursday, Feb. 1, when it plays host to Vanderbilt. Tip-off in Memorial Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. EST and the game will be carried live on the Big Blue Sports Network (radio) with Neil Price.
Single-game general admission tickets are available for $5 adults/$2 senior citizens and children 6-18. Ages five and under are admitted free. UK students, faculty and staff also are admitted free with valid identification based on availability. For ticket information, log on to ukathletics.com or call the UK ticket office at 859-257-1818 or 1-800-928-CATS (2287).
