UK women’s basketball commands USC-Upstate

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team (2-0) topped USC-Upstate (0-3) 82-54 at Rupp Arena Saturday evening.

The Cats again had five players in double figures on their way to a second win.

Ajae Petty led all scorers with 19 points, while also grabbing nine rebounds. Eniya Russell came off the bench to score 14 points and also grab nine rebounds. Maddie Scherr had 12 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Cats.

Brooklyn Miles had 10 points and four assists, while Zennia Thomas came off the bench to score a career high 10 points in the contest.

UK head coach Kyra Elzy liked how her team executed a number of goals in Saturday’s win.

“(We took) five charges,” Elzy said. “We had five people in double figures, which was huge. We won the boards, plus-11.”

Russell had one of her better games since arriving in Lexington, something that Elzy liked to see.

“Eniya had a great game. I thought she came in and gave us big minutes,” Elzy said. “She’s locked in and focused. She got nine rebounds and she was very excited about it, and so was I. Proud of her for rebounding the basketball.”

Kentucky blew the game open with a 17-0 run at the end of the first half to turn a nine-point lead into a comfortable advantage. In the second half, UK was able to maintain that lead and cruise to a 2-0 start on the season.

Next up for the Cats is a matchup against Austin Peay on Tuesday night at Georgetown College. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.