Kentucky Women’s beat Winthrop at Rupp Arena

The University of Kentucky Women’s Basketball team played inside Rupp Arena for the 1st time this year the 1st of 2 times they will play at Rupp Arena and it’s 45th all time game played inside Rupp Arena. The Wildcats are 27-18 (.600) All time in Rupp Arena. They defeated both Virginia and Florida in Rupp last season. This time they took on the Winthrop Lady Eagles from the Big South Conference. Winthrop is located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Winthrop Head coach Lynette Woodard was a two time U.S Olympian, a four time All American, the all time D1 women’s scoring leader and the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Matthew Mitchell and the Kentucky Wildcats came into the contest with a record of (9-0) and Winthrop came in with a (1-5) record. In the 1st quarter the Wildcats shot the ball very well 11-17 and 8-11 from deep. 9 of those 11 made baskets was from the combination of Rhyne Howard and Jaida Roper and the Cats took a 32-12 lead into the 2nd quarter. The 2nd quarter was also dominated by the 14th ranked Wildcats as the Cats extended their lead to 36 at halftime (54-18). The leading scorers at the half was Roper with 17 and Howard with 12.

The Wildcats and the Eagles played a pretty even 3rd quarter as the Wildcats seen themselves up 40 (70-30) with Roper leading the way with 21 points, Howard was held scoreless in the 3rd quarter (12 points) and Blair Green scored 6 points in the 3rd to give her 11 points thru 3 quarters. The Wildcats grew their lead before the end of the game before the game ended and Ropers day was done with just under 6 minutes remaining in the ball game until number 1 Sabrina Haines went down with an injury with just over 2 minutes to go into the ball game and on the next possession she scored a 2 point basket then with 1:06 remaining she scored an and one to give her 30 points. The Wildcats shot 13-23 from 3 tonight which was 1 shy of a school record. The Wildcats moved on to a 10-0 record and Winthrop falls to 1-6.

The 14th ranked Kentucky are back in action Sunday at 1pm at Rupp Arena once again as they take on their in state rival the 7th ranked Louisville Cardinals (9-1).