Sabrina Haines scored 17 points, Rhyne Howard had a double-double and No. 13 Kentucky held off Virginia 50-47 on Saturday.
Jocelyn Willoughby’s 3-pointer pulled the Cavaliers with 48-47 with 44 seconds left and after a Kentucky timeout Willoughby stole the ball with 20.1 seconds to go. Virginia missed a 3-pointer with four seconds to go, Howard made two free throws with two seconds left, and the Cavs missed a tying shot.
Howard had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Kentucky (4-0), which has not allowed a team to score more than 52 points so far. Willoughby led Virginia (2-2) with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The game was a defensive struggle with Kentucky’s biggest lead being seven points and Virginia’s best four points. A Howard 3 and Haines layup put the Wildcats up 39-32 with 6:44 to go but Dominique Toussaint had consecutive jumpers to bring the Cavs back.
Kentucky shot 31% (17 of 57), going 6 of 20 behind the arc, and was 10 of 12 from the foul line, half of the makes in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats had 23 turnovers but was the first team to outrebound Virginia.
The Cavaliers shot 31%, going 3 of 13 from distance, but were 18 of 23 from the line. They had 22 turnovers in a game that had 44 fouls.
