Teonni Key scored a career high 20 points, but the 11th-ranked Kentucky women’s basketball team lost at Texas A&M 61-55 on Thursday night.
Kentucky (16-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) got 15 points from Georgia Amoore. However, the Cats struggled shooting from the floor all night, hitting just 20 of 64 (31.3 percent) from the floor, including 1 of 18 (5.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
Texas A&M (10-8, 3-3) got out to an early 6-0 lead as Kentucky missed its first seven shots from the floor. The Cats got on the board with two Clara Strack free throws that cut the deficit to 6-2. After an A&M free throw, UK got a pair of charity tosses from Clara Silva to make it 7-4. A Key layup made it 7-6 and was Kentucky’s first made basket.
After the Aggies scored, Key scored a putback basket, cutting the lead to 9-8. The Cats would take their first lead on two Amoore free throws. A&M took the lead back before Strack scored on a putback to make it 12-11. An Amoore layup made it 14-11, which would be the score after one quarter.
Kentucky scored the first six points of the second quarter on baskets by Strack, Amoore and Key, building a 20-11 lead. The Aggies scored the next five before a Key layup gave the Cats a 22-16 advantage.
After an A&M three, Saniah Tyler scored to make it 24-19. The Aggies would cut the UK lead to 26-25 before UK got a bucket from Dazia Lawrence and a jumper from Amoore to make it 30-25. That would be the halftime score. Amoore led all scorers with 10 points in the first half.
A&M scored the first three points of the second half before UK got two straight baskets from Key to make it 34-28. Key made one of two at the line to make it 35-28. After an A&M basket, the Cats got a Silva fast break layup and a Lawrence layup and free throw to lead 40-30.
The Aggies scored the next five before Amoore drove to the basket for a layup the gave the Cats a 42-35 advantage. A&M would score again before Amoore hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 44-37. The Aggies scored the next four before a Key basket made it 46-41. The Cats would lead 46-42 after three periods.
A&M scored the first basket of the final stanza to get within two. However, Key hit a left-wing three to extend the UK lead to 49-44. It was Kentucky’s first made three-pointer of the game. The Aggies scored the next six points to take a 50-49 lead. The Cats took the lead back on a Lawrence basket and extended it to 52-50 when Lawrence made one of two at the line.
The Aggies would score the next seven points to lead 57-52. An Amoore free throw cut it to 57-53 but the Aggies hit four consecutive free throws to lead 61-53 and put the game away.
Kentucky returns to action on Sunday, hosting Arkansas at Historic Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for noon ET and the game can be seen on the SEC Network.
