Ajae Petty continued to shine in Kentucky WBB’s loss to South Carolina

The Kentucky women’s basketball team was absolutely rocked by No. 1 South Carolina in Rupp Arena, losing by 48 points and being 100-pieced in the process. It was ugly from start to finish, and it seemed like no one in blue and white came ready for a fight except for (who else?) Ajae Petty. South Carolina was missing 6-7 Kamilla Cardoso due to soreness, and Petty took advantage of that.

In 30 minutes of action, the senior forward recorded team highs in points (16), rebounds (8), and steals (3) while shooting a smooth 6-10 from the field. Additionally, Petty was on pace to put up her eighth 20+ point outing, but she shot just 4-14 (29%) from the charity stripe.

Unfortunately, free throws have been a major struggle for her all season. On the year, she made just 51.2% of her free throws. Not great. Still though, you have to like Petty’s effort against one of the deepest frontcourts in college basketball. Postgame, Petty noted her level of play against the Gamecocks.

Petty was steady

“I thought I got to my spots, thought I was getting over there,” Petty mentioned. “I didn’t knock my free throws down, but I did what I usually do.”

With her, there’s a lot of give and take there. She may leave some points at the free throw line at times, but her elite rebounding ability and paint presence is just enough to negate her flaws. Maddie Scherr had the second highest rebound total for Kentucky on Sunday with four. Petty had double that. You have to have her in if you want to compete on the board. One of the few positives from this 103-55 loss was that Kentucky won the battle on the offensive glass 14-6, thanks in part to Ajae Petty.

Kyra Elzy will need Petty to put up some of those numbers again for Kentucky. The ‘Cats take on Ole Miss on Thursday, one of the better rebounding teams in the SEC.