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The Kentucky women?s basketball team could not hold on to a three-point halftime lead as they fell to Mississippi State 80-67 in Starkville on Thursday. MSU?s Tan White had a career-high night, recording career-high 33 points, including 12-of-13 from the free throw line, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals while Tiania Burns hit five three-pointers for 20 points.
MSU (6-10, 1-3 SEC) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead to open the game before Jenny Pfeiffer put the Cats on the board with an 18-footer at the 16:39 mark. The Lady Bulldogs used blistering shooting early on to pull ahead of the Cats by 10, but UK (8-9, 0-4 SEC) didn?t give up. Down 26-17 with 7:38 left in the half, UK caught fire, going on a 19-7 run to close the half. SeSe Helm gave Kentucky its first lead of the game with 2:00 to go and followed that with a three-pointer in the Cats? last possession to give UK a three-point lead going into the break. UK shot 50 percent in the opening stanza on 13-of-26 shooting and was led by Sara Potts? 13 points.
In the second half, MSU took over where UK left off, jumping out on a 19-5 run for a 52-41 lead. Burns was the catalyst as she nailed two of her career-high five three-pointers, back-to-back, to start the run and shatter the Cats? spirits. MSU also was impressive from the free-throw line, connecting on 17-of-19. UK went 11-of-16 for the game and was outrebounded by the Lady Bulldogs 35-33.
?Mississippi State came out inspired in the second half,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?They turned up their defensive intensity and we didn?t handle it very well. Tan White had a wonderful night, and their whole team played well. We didn?t answer the call in the second half.?
UK went scoreless for more than five minutes during the run, allowing the Lady Bulldogs to open the lead. MSU blistered the nets in the half, shooting 58.6 percent from the field and pulling ahead by as many as 19, 66-47. The Cats battled to within 10, 75-65, in the final two minutes behind consecutive treys from Pfeiffer and Sara Potts, but it wouldn?t be enough as the Cats dropped their fourth straight game.
?We beat a really good UK team tonight,? MSU coach and former UK coach Sharon Fanning said. ?We had players hit some key shots for us in the second half and I?m proud of the way this team played.?
Potts, who hit four three-pointers in the game, led the Wildcats with a team-high 19 points. Helm added 11 and moved to sole possession of No. 8 on UK?s all-time scoring list with 1,350 career points. Pfeiffer also netted double figures with 16 points, including three trifectas.
UK now leads the all-time series 14-12 but has lost four straight to MSU in Starkville.
The Cats return to action on Sunday, Jan. 25, when they travel to Columbia, S.C. to meet the South Carolina Gamecocks at 2 p.m. ET at the Carolina Center.
