COLUMBIA, S.C.? Kentucky freshman guard Samantha Mahoney notched her first career double-double with a game-high 19 points and a career-high 12 rebounds Thursday, but a dominant South Carolina post presence was too much for the Cats, as they fell 60-47 in the Colonial Center. The Gamecocks were led by forward Iva Sliskovic?s team-high 16 points on 8-for-8 shooting and a career-high 15 rebounds, while guard Stacy Booker added 15 points. The Gamecocks out-rebounded the Wildcats 51-38.
The Wildcats (14-14, 3-10 Southeastern Conference) were playing with a depleted roster and post presence as junior forward/center Jennifer Humphrey and senior forward Keiko Tate did not make the trip due to a violation of team rules. Sophomore guard Nastassia Alcius added 12 points for the Cats, while senior guard/forward Sara Potts chipped in 11. Potts played a complete 40-minute game for the fourth time this season. Mahoney and freshman guard/forward Chante? Bowman each came up with three steals, while Bowman brought down eight rebounds.
?This group fought hard tonight, especially being undermanned,? UK Coach Mickie DeMoss said. ?We never stopped fighting and just came up short-handed. I couldn?t be prouder of the seven players who came down here and battled. I am just disappointed for them that we couldn?t come up with the win.?
UK shot a season-low 27.7 percent (18-of-65) from the field and connected on just four-of-18 shots from long distance. The Gamecocks (8-19, 2-11 SEC), who won their second consecutive league game, shot 36.5 percent (19-of-52) from the floor.
Free throws proved to be the difference in the game as the Cats, who were whistled for 18 fouls in the second half, made 7-of-12 charity shots, while the Gamecocks connected on 20 of their 32 attempts from the stripe.
Kentucky scored the first four points of the second half, as the Cats pulled ahead by four, 27-23, on a soft basket by Potts at the 15:38 mark. The Gamecocks then used a 13-1 run over the next 4:02 to take a 36-28 advantage with 11:36 remaining in the game on a jumper by Sliskovic and would never look back. After falling behind 47-35 at the 5:54 mark of the game, UK was able to whittle its deficit down to seven, 51-44, with 2:29 remaining on a lay-up by Mahoney. South Carolina, however, closed the game on a 9-3 run to preserve the victory.
After battling evenly throughout much of the first half, the two teams went into intermission knotted at 22. Kentucky shot 38 percent (10-of-26) from the floor in the first half, while South Carolina connected on just 33 percent (9-of-27) of its shots. The Gamecocks missed each of their 10 attempts from three-point range in the opening half. UK was led by Alcius? seven points in the first period.
South Carolina took an early 5-0 advantage before Kentucky battled back with a 9-0 run of its own to pull ahead 9-5 with 13:05 left in the opening stanza. The Wildcats led by as many as seven points (20-13) on a lay-up by Mahoney with 7:02 remaining until halftime. The Gamecocks then went on a late 6-0 run to pull within one, 20-19, with 1:04 left.
Kentucky returns to action Sunday as it returns home to host Arkansas in the final regular season game of the year. Tip off is set for 1 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum and the game will be carried live on WKYT-TV/UPN. The game also will be aired on WLXG 1300 AM with Chris Cross. Seniors Danyelle Payne, Sara Potts and Keiko Tate will be honored prior to the game.
