Playing in its regular-season finale, the No. 2-ranked South Carolina women's basketball team was denied a chance at an undefeated conference record by No. 13 Kentucky Sunday evening, as the Gamecocks lost 67-56 to the Wildcats.
The defeat is South Carolina’s first against an SEC opponent this season and its second in its last three games against Kentucky (21-8, 10-6 SEC).
South Carolina (27-2, 15-1 SEC) clinched at least a share of the SEC regular-season championship with its win against Mississippi State last Thursday, but a win against Kentucky would have made the Gamecocks the undisputed conference champions.
Head coach Dawn Staley’s team will now have to share the title with No. 6 Tennessee, a team South Carolina defeated 71-66 last Monday.
South Carolina defeated Kentucky 68-60 at Colonial Life Arena back in early January, but the Gamecocks faced a much different Wildcat team on Sunday.
Kentucky held South Carolina to only 32.3 percent shooting on the day, considerably below the Gamecocks’ season average of 48.3 percent.
Although Kentucky only shot 31.7 percent itself, the Wildcats were able to pull away from South Carolina, thanks to its job at the free throw line.
Kentucky made 77.1 percent of its free throws, amounting to 27 of its 67 points.
Meanwhile, South Carolina made only 10 of its 20 free throw attempts.
Senior point guard Jennifer O’Neill led the Wildcats with 15 points, but several other Kentucky players got in on the action.
Sophomore guard Makayla Epps scored 14 points, while senior forward/center Azia Bishop added 11 points.
Despite her team’s struggles on offense, South Carolina freshman guard/forward A’ja Wilson continued her good play and scored 16 points and grabbing 19 rebounds.
Turnovers were South Carolina's downfall against Kentucky — the Gamecocks gave up the ball 20 times, and the Wildcats scored 19 points off of turnovers.
Despite its struggles throughout the game, South Carolina managed to tie Kentucky 20-20 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half, but the Wildcats took over from there.
In the second half, Kentucky built the lead up to 21 points, but South Carolina still fought back.
With 6:41 remaining in the second half, Kentucky’s lead was cut to seven points before ending the game on a 14-10 run.
South Carolina entered the game having won the rebounding battle in every SEC matchup this season but, with 45 rebounds, tied with Kentucky.
Outside of Wilson, junior guard Tina Roy was the only other Gamecock to score in double-digits with 10 points.
Junior shooting guard and reigning SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell scored only eight points, while senior forward Aleighsa Welch and sophomore Alaina Coates failed to turn in double digit statistics.
Despite the loss, South Carolina will still be the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC tournament because of its tie-breaking win against Tennessee.
The tournament begins in North Little Rock Arkansas on Wednesday, March 4, but the Gamecocks won’t play their first game until Friday, March 6. Staley’s team will face the winner between Arkansas and Ole Miss.