The Auburn Tigers defeated the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team 71-68 in a thrilling matchup on Thursday, January 26th at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky. The game marked the 49th season for the UK women’s basketball program, which holds an all-time record of 891-580 (.605).
The loss drops the Wildcats to 9-11 overall and 1-7 in the league, while the Tigers improve to 12-8 overall and 2-6 in the league. Auburn leads the all-time meetings with Kentucky 27-26, in a series that began in 1980. UK remains the leader in games played in Lexington, 12-11.
The game was a closely contested battle from the start, with Kentucky winning the opening tip and Robyn Benton scoring the first points of the game for the Wildcats. Kentucky held a two-point lead over Auburn, 10-8, at the first quarter media timeout, shooting 40.0 percent from the floor on four of 10 attempts. However, the Tigers quickly gained the upper hand, going on a 12-0 run to take a 26-20 lead at the 5:36 mark in the second quarter.
The two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the first half, with Auburn leading 38-35 at halftime. The Cats committed 12 turnovers in the first half, while the Tigers scored 21 points off those errors. The Tigers stretched their lead to seven points with a 4-0 run out of the break, but Kentucky rallied with an 8-2 run to get within one point of Auburn, 43-44, with seven minutes and 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Auburn then went on a 9-0 run to take its largest lead in the game, 53-43, at 3:35 in the third quarter. The Tigers stretched that to an 11-0 run and a 12-point lead before Kentucky closed the gap to 59-50 at the end of the third quarter. The Wildcats rallied late in the game, going on a 10-1 run to get within two points of the Tigers, 62-60, with 4:51 remaining in the game.
In the end, Auburn’s Honesty Scott-Grayson made a free throw under a second left in the game to go up one, securing the 71-68 victory for the Tigers. Kentucky will look to bounce back on Sunday, January 29th when they host Missouri at 3 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum on SEC Network for its annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day game.
