I, too, was proud of the fight our ladies showed. Until I see the replay, can't comment on the effort on stopping the 24 points KY got on turnovers, which sounded like easy layups. We all knew that we have a young, inexperienced bench that is limited at this time and that we need all of our firepower to realistically stay with ranked opponents. Even then, we managed to overcome a large deficit to enter the 4th quarter with a one-point lead, and we held Howard to eight points on 4-13 shooting. It's not like we rolled over helplessly.
Kellie said in the immediate post-game with Dearstone that turnovers resulting in easy baskets and missed free throws were keys along with not shooting effectively against the zone. Tamari actually shot 80% FG, but she only got off 5 shots. Rae took 23 shots to get 22 points, whereas Patterson's 21 points came on 16 shots. Our starting guards last night continued their shooting woes which extended to 3-10 FT shooting.
Looking for the box score, I accidentally landed on a UK homer site. The recap made me smile, as it was written to make it sound like UK had immensely improved since the first meeting (citing improved rebounding, for example). No mention at all of Davis's absence (Burrell was only LV mentioned at all). But the person did note that although Howard only had 8 points, she "effected" [sic] the game in other ways.
A Louisville paper was much more balanced, noting that "star senior" Davis couldn't travel with team due to Covid restrictions and that she had put up 14 points and 20 rebounds the first game.
Overall, the result was not shocking or evem all that surprising. Look at the Conn-SC game. As sloppy and uninspired as SC played, where would Conn have been without a freshman guard scoring their last 13 points including 9 in overtime (and 31 overall)? Sometimes even talent-laden teams still depend mightily upon that one or two players to deliver. And we don't have the bench of a Conn, especially with experienced Green and McCoy sidelined and Suarez temporarily hobbled. KY got lucky to catch us on a night when Davis wasn't available.
