‘I thought we grew up today.’ Kentucky women’s basketball 7-1 after hard-fought road win.

The Kentucky women’s basketball team will be entering its biggest game of the season so far with plenty of momentum.

Not only have the Wildcats recently played swarming team defense to win three straight games, but head coach Kyra Elzy’s team has also now recorded its first true road win of the season.

The Cats went north to Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Wednesday night and defeated Minnesota (5-4), 80-74, behind a game-high 19 points from sophomore guard Jada Walker.

“I thought we grew up today,” Elzy said during a postgame Zoom interview.

Walker sank two free throws with less than 30 seconds left — and the game still in the balance — to help secure the Wildcats’ win.

“Tough, she stays ready,” Elzy said of Walker’s ice-cold performance at the foul line late in the game. “We talk about being built different, and she’s truly an epitome of that.”

This was Kentucky’s first victory in a true road game against a Big Ten Conference opponent since December 2004.

UK (7-1) will next face in-state rival Louisville at 1 p.m. Sunday in Rupp Arena.

UK uses scoring versatility to down the Gophers

Kentucky exceeded its scoring averages in Wednesday night’s win at Minnesota, and the Cats did so with plenty of players getting in on the act.

UK had eight different scorers in the game, including four different players who scored in double-digits: Walker (19), graduate student guard Robyn Benton (18), junior forward Ajae Petty (16) and graduate student guard Blair Green (11).

This was the first time this season that four players scored in double digits for UK.

This was the fifth time Walker has led Kentucky in scoring this season.

Benton has scored in double digits in all eight games this season, and scored 12 points in the third quarter alone.

Petty added a career-high tying 12 rebounds to go along with her career-best 16 points. The junior transfer from LSU has now recorded two career double-doubles (in consecutive games), and has scored in double digits in four straight contests.

“I thought what she did on the inside really helped our offensive execution,” Elzy said. “I think our pace was a shock to her system early, but I thought she’s really stepped up and wanted to be the inside presence and has worked with (assistant coach Jen Hoover) and the staff on finishing, making one move, scoring.”

Petty’s performance off the bench was a significant reason why UK held a commanding 26-2 advantage in bench points over the Gophers.

Depth was on display in several areas for UK on Wednesday night.

After early foul trouble plagued a pair of Kentucky bigs — graduate student forward Adebola Adeyeye and junior forward Nyah Leveretter — the Wildcats got productive playing time from freshman guards Kennedy Cambridge (five points, three rebounds, one assist) and Amiya Jenkins (four points and three assists).

Defense continues to turn into offense for the Cats

Elzy has spoken often about the defensive potential that this year’s Kentucky team possesses, in particular with the ability to dial up the intensity on that end of the floor.

With significantly more depth compared to last season, Elzy has placed a premium on flying around the court, forcing opponents to turn the ball over and allowing that to help kick start the Wildcats’ offense.

This was on display again Wednesday, as UK forced 21 turnovers by Minnesota. This is the seventh straight game that UK forced its opponent to commit at least 20 turnovers.

Kentucky parlayed those 21 turnovers into 26 points off turnovers.

Despite UK committing more turnovers (22) than Minnesota, the Cats were still a plus-five in the points-off-turnovers stat.

A big credit in this category should go to junior guard Maddie Scherr.

The transfer from Oregon and 2020 Miss Kentucky Basketball winner paced the Wildcats with five steals as part of the following balanced stat line: six points, five rebounds, five assists, two blocks and five steals in 34 minutes.

Next game

Louisville at Kentucky

When: 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: Rupp Arena

TV: ESPN

Records: Kentucky 7-1, Louisville 6-4

Series: UK leads 34-23.

Last meeting: Louisville won 64-58 on Dec. 12, 2021, at KFC Yum Center in Louisville.

Note: UK hasn’t beaten Louisville since December 2015.

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