College & High School
March 7, 2022

Kentucky Wildcats Women’s Basketball Crowned SEC Champions for the First Time in 40 Years

Oh, NCAA’s March Madness applies to the women’s game as well. Look no further than the instant classic of an SEC championship game between Kentucky and South Carolina that ended in the Lady Wildcats winning their first conference championship in 40 years.

The Kentucky women’s basketball team outlasted the No. 1 ranked South Carolina 64-62 to win the SEC tournament title for the first time since 1982. Dre’una Edwards provided a huge three-pointer with five seconds left to finish off a 27 point, nine-rebound afternoon to preserve the Lady Wildcats’ shocking upset.

The 7th seeded Wildcats won four games, beating the three top seeds in the tournament that included South Carolina, No. 2 LSU, and No. 3 Tennessee after beating No. 10 seed Mississippi State in the first round.

Since winning their previous title in 1982 over Tennessee, the Wildcats had lost four SEC finals from 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

Kentucky punched their ticket to March Madness with a ten-game winning streak that wiped out a 2-8 record in the SEC and a 9-11 record overall just a month prior.

Two-time SEC player of the year, Rhyne Howard started a 14-2 run with a huge three-pointer with 5:30 left in the game to showcase why the Wildcats have turned around as the NCAA tournament inches closer and closer.

“We started having fun,” Howard told ESPN of Wildcats’ dramatic turnaround. “When things were getting tough, basically we acted like we didn’t want to be there. That’s how it looked and how it appeared to our fans.”

“We had a team meeting where we were like, ‘This is it. We cannot end like this.’ Especially with a lot of us being seniors. We knew we had to get it together.”

Wildcats Coach Kyra Elzy never doubted that things would turn around.

“We had been put in situations when our back was against the wall, and we had enough to step up,

“We’re a talented team.”

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