Kentucky, and especially Rhyne Howard, proved too much for Auburn in Lexington as the Wildcats prevailed 90-62 in the regular season finale. Howard, on her senior day, led all scorers with 32 points while making eight threes in the game. In total, the Wildcats made 10 threes and shot the ball at a 50.8% clip from the field.
“We gave up wide-open 3-pointers,” Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said. “We didn’t handle it right. We gave up wide-open shots, and [Howard] knocked them down, which we knew she would do. We got out-played, we got out-toughed. We made ill-advised fouls. They just took it to us.”
Auburn’s Precious Johnson recorded her first career double-double while scoring a career-high 18 points and grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds. Aicha Coulibaly also contributed an identical double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Honesty Scott-Grayson contributed nine points for the Tigers. Senior Xaria Wiggins also had a career day with nine total rebounds. For the game, Auburn grabbed 27 offensive rebounds while out rebounding the Wildcats 49-35. However, the multitude of offensive rebounds could not help the Tigers overcome a frigid shooting performance that saw them connect on a mere 29.2% of their shots.
Kentucky opened the game on fire from three-point range making 85% of their threes in the first quarter as they jumped out to an early 30-15 lead. The Wildcats cooled off slightly in the second quarter but still managed to outscore the Tigers 17-11 in the second period to take a 47-26 lead into the halftime locker room.
Auburn never got closer than 18 points in the second half. In fact, the Wildcat lead ballooned to as much as 39 before the Tigers closed the game on a 15-4 run.
In addition to Howard’s 32, Kentucky got 25 from Dre’una Edwards and 15 from Jada Walker.
Auburn is the 14 seed in the SEC Tournament and will play their opening round game against Alabama on Wednesday March 2nd at approximately 1:30 p.m.
