It didn’t matter what the numbers said. All Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy knew was that her team won.
“A win is what we needed. A road win in the SEC is tough to get. No one is going to give us anything,” said Elzy. “We earned it today and we are going to celebrate it.”
Dre’una Edwards scored 24 points off the bench and Kentucky rallied late to beat host Alabama 67-63 on Sunday after falling behind 11-2 to start the game. It was only UK’s third SEC win of the season.
Edwards was 10 of 23 from the floor and added seven rebounds, three steals and two assists for Kentucky.
Kentucky finally had a full roster and got 39 points from its bench and forced 18 turnovers because Elzy said the players could go all-out knowing there was someone on the bench to come in if they got tired. Kentucky also held an advantage in second-chance points, 17-8, and fast break points, 15-5.
Sophomore center Nyah Leveretter came off the bench and played a big role with a career-high eight points, seven rebounds, career-high three steals and one block.
“It’s great just to have a bench,” Elzy said. “What can you say about Niya? She had one of the biggest games of her career.”
Leveretter said she had gained confidence by being forced to get more minutes when UK was short-handed for a long stretch due to various reasons.
“We had nothing to lose. We just laid our hearts out on the floor,” Leveretter said. “It’s just different having the whole team back. We finally have everyone and even if somebody messes up, we have people to come in.”
Edwards felt the same way and said it was “amazing” to win again.
“We have had a tough season. It has been a rough road for us,” Edwards, who was suspended for four games, said. “This can do nothing but make us go higher. I think this was a big win for us. It boosted a lot of people’s confidence.”
All-American Rhyne Howard played with her shooting hand taped and was just 3-for-10 from the field. Still, she scored nine points and added nine rebounds, three blocked shots, a steal and an assist.
Elzy said the team cannot look back at what has happened as it moves forward. She says she knows UK is a better 3-point shooting team — it was 3-for-17 Sunday — but liked the way moved the ball to get open shots even if most were missed.
“I thought we had an understanding of what we were looking for today and that is a step forward for us,” Elzy said.
