LEXINGTON, Ky. - No. 15 Kentucky (15-1, 4-0) dominated Auburn (9-8, 0-4) 80-61 Sunday to remain perfect in SEC play.
Coming into this game off four straight losses, Auburn wanted to keep this game close; that’s what they did in the first quarter. It was a defense-heavy first quarter with eight combined turnovers as Kentucky started to pull away behind the great performance by Amoore. Georgia Amoore scored nine of Kentucky’s 16 first quarter points coming off a lot of good defensive pressure. With Auburn only down by five early, they needed to keep looking for rare good shots against this great Kentucky defense.
In the second quarter, Kentucky’s defense, led by center Clara Strack, tightened up even more. Even with nine first half offensive rebounds, Auburn still couldn’t turn those into consistent points as Kentucky’s defense held them to 26 percent on 34 shots for the first half. On the other end, the offense for Kentucky was bound to start hitting shots on the other end as they started hitting shots from range. Led by Georgia Amoore behind her great first quarter performance, Kentucky got out to a 11 point lead along with 13 points and four assists.
Auburn’s grasp on even a close game was starting to slip as only two Tigers were able to score in the second quarter; Bostic led the team in the second quarter with 12.
A hot start to the third quarter brought some much needed life into this Auburn team as they went on a 12-2 run to bring it to a six point game.
Then the Wildcats flipped the script.
Kentucky scored eight straight points to make it a 14 point game, effectively blowing the game open for the Wildcats and putting Auburn on their heels. For the rest of the game, Kentucky would continue to dominate, getting 2 players over 20 points and 2 more over 10.
It seemed too easy at times for Kentucky in the second half as DeYona Gaston would get herself into foul trouble, getting taken out for long stretches in both halves. These long breaks forced the rest of the team to try and step up but they couldn’t do it against a tough team like Kentucky.
Auburn needed an almost perfect game to upset a red hot Kentucky team; They would just not get it today as Kentucky’s defense lived up to the hype, holding the Tigers to just 35% from the field. The drastic difference between both team’s shooting percentage would turn out to be the difference as Kentucky would shoot a lot better on the other end.
Even with the loss, it was a career day for Mar’Shaun Bostic as she matched a career-high in an SEC game with 18 points.
Coach Harris praised her after the game, saying “She’s been working at it, She’s been coming in, watching film, asking questions. I was happy to see that pay off for her.”
Auburn will need another performance like that from Bostic and Gaston to break this cold streak the Tigers are in. The Tiger’s next game is Thursday as they play Texas at home at 6 p.m. That game will be broadcast on SECN+ and on the Auburn Sports Network.
