Dre’una Edwards made a 3 with 4 seconds left to elevate the Kentucky Wildcats, who weren’t even on the bubble not way back, to a 64-62 upset of the nationwide championship favourite South Carolina Gamecocks within the SEC Event title sport Sunday afternoon at Bridgestone Area in Nashville.
The Wildcats’ unbelievable run by the convention tourney as a No. 7 seed already had them within the ESPN bracketology projection however now they’ll go to the NCAA Event as an automated bid and sure earned the fitting to not must play a 1 seed within the second spherical ought to they advance.
Then once more, they simply beat the group that was speculated to be the No. 1 general seed; an incredible accomplishment that offers them their first SEC Event title since 1982. In different phrases, they’ve been an automated bid precisely two instances of their historical past: within the first season the NCAA Event passed off and on this present season. Kentucky made their first of 4 Elite Eight journeys in 1982; it has by no means been to the Ultimate 4.
South Carolina’s Destanni Henderson practically made a half-court game-winner on the buzzer, but it surely hit off the again of the rim and missed.
Zia Cooke missed two free throws with 16 seconds left and Kentucky (19-11, 8-8 SEC) secured the rebound earlier than calling a timeout, down one on the 11-second mark. The remaining was Edwards, who completed with a game-high 27 factors and a team-high 9 rebounds.
Kentucky had an earlier probability to take the lead, however a go to famous person Rhyne Howard within the paint obtained misplaced and picked up by South Carolina, which known as a timeout with 18.3 seconds remaining.
Edwards had her shot blocked out of bounds by nationwide Participant of the Yr candidate Aliyah Boston and got here again with a reverse layup proper out of the inbound to chop it to 3 with 1:50 to play. She adopted with one other layup 37 seconds later that lower it to 1.
Threes from Edwards and Robyn Benton each lower it to seven after which a layup from Treasure Hunt did the identical earlier than Howard was lastly capable of lower it to 5 on a layup with 3:59 to play.
Henderson’s first two threes of the sport got here within the first half of the third quarter and pushed South Carolina’s result in 11 and 14, respectively.
The Gamecocks (29-2, 15-1 SEC) led by not less than 9 the remainder of the third as Howard’s 10 factors over that stretch (5-of-6 from the road) weren’t sufficient to get the Wildcats any nearer. A coast-to-coast layup by Boston pushed South Carolina’s result in 12 getting into the fourth and she or he hit two free throws 46 seconds into the ultimate body to make it a 14-point benefit as soon as once more.
Nevertheless, that’s when the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run capped by Edwards’ three that lower it to seven.
Howard completed with 18 factors, two steals and two blocks. Boston notched 21 factors, 11 rebounds to increase her SEC-record double-double streak to 24 video games. Cooke managed 15 factors.
The ultimate 5:09 of the second was gained by the Gamecocks 4-3, as each groups have been struggling to attain getting into halftime.
South Carolina went on a 9-0 run from 1:10 within the first to five:09 within the second to go up 26-18. Cooke made the three that capped that run to offer her 11 factors.
Edwards had gone to battle with the Gamecocks earlier than the run with eight factors that saved it shut. Boston scored 9 factors within the first and Cooke had eight, whereas Henderson dished out 4 assists.
