No. 13 Kentucky women hold off Auburn 68-61

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Rhyne Howard hit three clutch free throws, collected a steal and blocked a shot in the final 29 seconds as the No. 13 Kentucky women held off Auburn, 68-61 on Monday night.

The Wildcats dropped to 13th in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll. Then ranked No. 11, Kentucky suffered a tough loss at LSU on January 18, a game in which they rallied from an 18-point deficit to trail by just two possessions late. Auburn was its first game after a seven-day layoff.

Auburn, coming into the game after winning its first Southeastern Conference game of the season, a 59-43 victory over Mississippi, and rallied after falling behind by as many as 20 points in the first half and faced a 44-28 deficit at halftime. But the Tigers outscored Kentucky 19-7 in the third quarter and tied the game at 51-51 on a pair of free throws by Unique Thompson with 8:40 remaining.

Kentucky (16-3, 5-2) got 3-pointers from Amanda Paschal and KeKe McKinney along with a McKinney layup in an 8-2 run to retake control, but Auburn rallied behind a Robyn Benton 3 and a Daisa Alexander layup and trailed by one, 59-58 with under four minutes to play.

Thompson hit the second of two free throws with :54 left to get Auburn within two, 63-61, but the Tigers could not score again. Howard hit two free throws, then split a pair from the line after drawing a foul following a steal to make it 66-61 with :20 left, then blocked Alexander's layup attempt with :13 left.

Sabrina Haines hit 4 of 8 from distance and scored 17 points to lead Kentucky, with McKinney adding 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench and Howard contributing 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Thompson, a preseason All-SEC second team selection, put up 27 points and pulled down 15 rebounds for Auburn (7-11, 1-6), but was the only Tiger to score in double figures.

Kentucky plays at Missouri Thursday. Auburn is at No. 9 Mississippi State Thursday.

No. 20 Indiana 65, Minnesota 52

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Grace Berger scored a career-high 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds as Indiana beat Minnesota.

Jaelynn Penn added 15 points and Ali Patberg had 11 with six rebounds and three assists for the Hoosiers (16-5, 6-3 Big Ten), who trailed 14-11 after the first quarter but pulled ahead for good on a 12-2 run in which Berger scored eight points to lead 27-23 at halftime.

The Hoosiers made 20 of 24 free throws (83%), including 15 of 18 in the fourth quarter that helped them to their largest lead of the night, 60-47, with 1:55 to play. Berger was 5 of 6 from the foul line while Penn and Aleksa Gulbe were each 4 for 4.

Indiana shot just 11% from 3-point range (1 of 9) to Minnesota's 26% (5 of 19).

Jasmine Powell hit 2 of 6 3-pointers and scored 15 points and Taiye Bello had 11 points with 13 rebounds for the Golden Gophers (12-8, 2-7), who were outrebounded 40-33. Jasmine Brunson scored 11 points and Sara Scalia had nine.

Indian hosts Wisconsin on Thursday and Minnesota plays Nebraska at home, also on Thursday.

Sports on 01/28/2020

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