Matthew Mitchell

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Kentucky needed some type a spark to snap a three-game losing streak. It got it from an unlikely source. Freshman guard Bernisha Pinkett scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Kentucky women’s basketball team past South Carolina 66-48. The Cats got back to their defensive ways to key a second-half surge that ultimately buried the Gamecocks. Kentucky outscored South Carolina 36-15 in the second half for its first Southeastern Conference win of the year.”I am extremely proud of our players tonight,” UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “This was a very good win. We were down on the mat there with three losses in a row. The team came back here Tuesday and Wednesday and really practiced hard. They were focused today and came out and earned a very tough victory, even when it looked like it was not going that great for us. I am very, very proud that they just hung in there and kept plugging. This was a really good win for us.”After struggling mightily on offense the last three games – UK failed to shoot above 30 percent in losses to Arkansas and Georgia – the Cats hit a season-high 54.5 percent from the field. Pinkett was 8 of 11 from the field, Victoria Dunlap (20 points) was 10 of 18 and A’dia Mathies (15 points) was 7 of 13. In addition, UK forced 28 turnovers, imposing the type of defensive intensity that led the Cats to the Elite Eight a season ago.”I thought we did a good job in the first half of making them take some contested outside shots,” Mitchell said. “I told them that if we could defensively find a way to hang in there and keep guarding … and make them take contested jumpers all night that we could finally get it turned around.”  A loss would have all but put the Cats (12-4, 1-2 SEC) out of the league race just three games into the season. Mitchell said he didn’t fear losing his team with another defeat, but he certainly changed some things to prevent it.Instead of going with freshman guards Maegan Conwright and Jennifer O’Neill to run the point guard position, Mathies got most of the minutes at the one.”I think it was (a team effort),” Mathies said. “A lot of people play a lot of positions and have a lot of tasks and jobs, and they carry that very well I believe. I think that just everybody stepped up to their potential today. If you work hard, I think (we learned) that’s why the outcome was what it was.”Mitchell also significantly cut the game plan down. Equipped with about 30 set plays, Mitchell decided to let his team play loose Thursday night and scaled down the play calls significantly.”We went very basic tonight,” Mitchell said. “Everybody knew what we were trying to get done.”And that was to end a three-game losing streak. Bernisha Pinkett, Victoria Dunlap and A’dia Mathies (from left to right)