The No. 3 Texas women showed no letdown after their big win last Sunday over No. 2 South Carolina. The Longhorns asserted themselves versus No. 8 Kentucky and won 67-49 in Lexington on Thursday night.
The defeat was the Wildcats’ first in 13 games at home this season. They dropped to 8-3 in SEC play and 19-4 overall.
Perhaps amped up at the start, Texas missed several shots to begin the game and was also called for several offensive fouls while trying to press its advantage in the frontcourt. As a result, Kentucky stayed close in the opening 10 minutes, trailing 16-14. The Wildcats even took a 20-17 lead with 7:54 left in the second quarter.
From there, however, the Longhorns settled down and overpowered Kentucky close to the basket. Kyla Oldacre scored 13 points in the first half, getting the Wildcats’ Clara Strack and Teonni Key in early foul trouble.
Strack fouled out with 9:14 remaining in the game, finishing with no points, four rebounds and two blocks in a tough matchup versus Oldacre. Key fared better, only occasionally drawing the defensive assignment on the Texas center. She scored 12 points with 10 rebounds. Georgia Amoore led Kentucky with 14 points, while Dazia Lawrence added 11.
Longacre finished with 19 points, matching Madison Booker for the game-high scoring total. Booker didn’t record her first basket for the Longhorns until the 1:09 mark of the second quarter but scored Texas’ final six points of the first half. She added eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Taylor Jones also grabbed eight boards, while Longacre followed with seven.
The Longhorns out-rebounded the Wildcats, 42-27, including an 18-5 advantage on the offensive boards. That resulted in 21 second-chance points for Texas, compared to eight for Kentucky.
Texas improved to 25-2 overall and maintains a hold on first place in the SEC with an 11-1 conference mark. The Longhorns next host No. 5 LSU (25-1, 10-1) on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, the Longhorns’ fourth consecutive matchup against a top-25 opponent. Kentucky hosts Georgia (10-15, 2-9) on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.