FINAL: Kentucky WBB pulls out important win over No. 15 Georgia, 84-76

Kentucky Women’s Basketball hadn’t played in 18 days up until Thursday night. The first opponent back? The No. 15 Georgia Bulldogs, which came into a Memorial Coliseum building that was nearly empty due to inclement Lexington weather.

The delay didn’t seem to bother the No. 21 ranked Wildcats in the end though, as Kentucky got its first win over a ranked opponent this season, beating Georgia 84-76 on Thursday night. UK was powered by its superstar, Rhyne Howard, who dropped 30 points and five rebounds on 12-20 shooting.

Kentucky moves to 8-3 on the season while Georgia goes down to 12-3.

First @SEC Dub ✅😼#CommitToIt pic.twitter.com/UZk0nxNwD1

— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) January 7, 2022

Kentucky sure did start the game off looking as if it hadn’t played in over two weeks. Georgia scored the first two buckets before jumping out to an early 9-3 lead. But it didn’t take long for the ‘Cats to find a groove. UK went on an 8-0 run to take a 13-11 advantage as the two sides began to trade blows.

Neither team would push ahead by more than two points the rest of the first quarter as Kentucky was able to hold onto a slight 20-18 lead after 10 minutes of action. The second period started off with the same back-and-forth trend.

Georgia found itself ahead 24-22 not even two minutes into the second quarter but ran into a relentless Wildcat defense. Kentucky mounted a 7-0 run from there before pushing its lead to as many as eight ahead of halftime. The Bulldogs managed to cut that in half by the intermission though, trailing 39-35 at the break.

Kentucky would strike first out of the locker room, jumping ahead by seven, but Georgia quietly stayed within striking distance. UGA would eventually fight back to tie the game at 47 with 3:49 left in the third frame. Georgia would even steal the lead on a couple of occasions before UK went back in front by one heading into the fourth quarter.

Despite some clearly tired legs down the stretch, Kentucky continued to fight. A 3-pointer from freshman Jada Walker put the ‘Cats up by five before another triple from Howard a couple of minutes later kept UK ahead by six. Georgia would get as close as one point, 75-74, with 2:35 left in the game, but Kentucky found a way to pull out a crucial win down the stretch against a very good Georgia squad. Howard took over in the final few minutes to close out an eight-point victory.

Howard’s season-high 30 points moved her into third on the Kentucky WBB all-time scoring list. She was aided by 17 points, six rebounds, and five assists from Dre’Una Edwards along with 15 points from Walker. Kentucky shot 52 percent from the floor as a team while turning the ball over eight fewer times than Georgia.

Kentucky won’t have much time to celebrate this win, though. The ‘Cats will head down to face No. 1 South Carolina this Sunday at 1 p.m. EST on ESPN.