No. 15 Kentucky WBB falls to No. 6 South Carolina, 78-66, to close regular season

For most teams, heading into Colonial Life Arena to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks is an automatic death sentence. In fact, until recently, South Carolina had a 71-game win streak at home. Of course, UConn defeated the ‘Cocks recently, proving that you can beat the No. 6 team in the nation on its home turf. Despite a good 40-minute effort, the ‘Cats were unable to finish the regular season with a win over South Carolina.

While Kentucky kept it close for the majority of the first, a 7-0 run by South Carolina to end the quarter solidified how dominant the Gamecocks and Dawn Staley truly are. Once South Carolina players get hot, it’s hard to cool them down. Luckily, Kentucky opened up the second quarter with a quick four points to close the Gamecocks’ lead to only five. However, a bad pass from Clara Strack turned into a fast-break layup for TeHina PaoPao, who was perfect from the field at that point.

After a tough two-game week and traveling to Columbia, it’s not surprising that the ‘Cats looked a little bit sluggish out of the gate. Thankfully, Dazia Lawrence was there to bring the energy for Kentucky. Two early fouls from Teonni Key took her out of the game until the second half, so Lawrence and the rest of the team needed to step up, big time. After going up 11 in the middle of the second quarter, Kentucky slowly but surely began to close the gap. At one point, the ‘Cats drained six of six shots to cut South Carolina’s lead to eight with less than a minute to go in the half. But, a foul on Amelia Hassett put the ‘Cocks in the bonus, giving a pair of free throws to make the lead double-digits yet again.

After being 1-5 in the first quarter, Georgia Amoore finished the second quarter making four of five shots, ending the half 5-10 (50%) from the field. At the half, Kentucky was only down eight on one of the most offensively dominant teams in the country. Oh, and the ‘Cats only shot one free throw in that entire 20 minutes of play. South Carolina shot only two.

Georgia Amoore and Dazia Lawrence are the main factors in keeping the 'Cocks from going up double-digits at the half. The pair combined for 12 points on 6-9 in the second quarter.

And somehow Kentucky's only shot one free throw.

Kentucky 33 | South Carolina 41 | Half

KSBoard:…

— Katie Hutchison (@KHutchisonKSR) March 2, 2025

In the third quarter, South Carolina went almost completely cold for five straight minutes. Kentucky cut the lead to as low as five, but PaoPao silenced the ‘Cats with a three-pointer to extend the lead back to eight. Suddenly, the two teams were going back and forth. Just as it seemed that Kentucky finally had some momentum, the ‘Cocks were keeping the ‘Cats at arm’s length. But with a pair of back-to-back threes, the ‘Cats cut the lead to only three. South Carolina gets the last shot of the quarter, an easy lay-in down low. Going into the last 10 minutes, it’s a five-point game in Columbia.

To start the third, Strack opened with a quick three-point play. But as expected, South Carolina answered with three-pointer. After some immaculate defense by the ‘Cats, another pair of free throws from Strack cut the Gamecocks’ lead to one with eight minutes to go. Unfortunately, South Carolina wasn’t going anywhere. As quick as Kentucky cut the lead to one, the ‘Cocks extended it to seven. Once again, it felt like Kentucky couldn’t get a shot to drop when it mattered the most.

South Carolina finished the game with a completely different defensive intensity than it started with. In what looked like Kentucky might just have a chance to take down the ‘Cocks in their home territory, everything came crashing down as quickly as it built up. Despite not being able to overcome one of the most dominant teams in the SEC, Kentucky finished with a historic regular season and a 22-6 record.

Up next, comes the SEC Tournament. While games start on Wednesday, March 5, Kentucky will be the 4-seed, playing on Friday, March 7 at 2:30 p.m. EST. The first eight games of the tourney can be watched on the SEC Network throughout the week. After that, most games will be streamed on ESPN or ESPN2. The games take place from March 5 to 9.