Kentucky women rally from 16 points down to win at Florida

Kentucky players celebrated after Sunday’s win with coach Kyra Elzy. (UK Athletics Photo)

If you thought coach John Calipari’s team had a rough start that eventually turned into a terrific win at No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday, then look at what the Kentucky women did Sunday at Florida.

The Gators led 18-10 after one period and pushed the lead to 16 points and 30-14 two minutes into the second quarter. However, Kentucky didn’t wilt and somehow stormed back to win 81-75 behind career-high 29 points from guard Robyn Benton.

What did Elzy tell her team to inspire that comeback?

“It wasn’t magic,” said the UK coach. “The resiliency and toughness of our team to buckle down and get stops and adjust to how the game was being called (led to the comeback).”

Elzy also said one of the team goals going into the game was to get to the foul line 20 plus times. Kentucky was 23 of 28 at the foul line — Benton was 10 of 10, including four straight in the final minutes — while Florida was 15 of 28. Guard Maddie Scherr went 8-for-8 at the foul line and guard Jade Walker 3-for-4.

That was a combined 21 of 22 at the foul line for the guard trio that was 22 of 55 from the field (Benton 9 of 19, Walker 8 of 19 and Scherr 5 of 17). They combined for 66 of UK’s 81 points. Walker had 10 of her points in the fourth quarter and Scherr added six rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three assists to her 18 points.

Kentucky (9-9, 1-5 SEC) used its pressure defense to force 24 turnovers — the Cats had 17 steals — that led to 28 points. , which included 17 steals.

“I thought our guards were aggressive off the dribble,” the UK coach said. “In earlier games we were settling for outside shots that were not going in instead of finding another way to score.”

Elzy said the UK defense made adjustments that it had to make when it fell behind.

“Our players just played fearless,” Elzy said. “We have to get out and fly around. We must generate points from our defense.”

Elzy said her interior players also did what they needed, especially on defense, to help secure the win.

“They brought defense, banged, got rebounds and did their job,” Elzy said. “We need an inside presence.”

Elzy liked the swagger Benton had at the foul line when she pointed at the SEC Network camera before making her final four free throws to secure the win.

“I love it. We need all the energy, all the swag,” Elzy said. “Hopefully being able to win a game, just getting us over the jump, will give us a lot of confidence from here. Even games we were losing we were continuing to progress but it was good to see some progress showed up in a win today.”