The Auburn Women's Basketball team (11-9, 2-5 SEC) couldn't hold on against the No. 25 University of Kentucky (16-3, 4-2 SEC) Sunday and ultimately lost 68-50.
"Kentucky has a good team with very good pressure defense," said head coach Nell Fortner. "Matthew Mitchell has done a really good job with this team. Kentucky was in control of the game the whole time and it was their day today. They played hard with great energy."
Suffering from a hamstring injury, senior center KeKe Carrier pulled through and scored 11 points for the Tigers.
"A big problem against Kentucky was boxing out, because they got a lot of offensive rebounds," Carrier said. "Also, we have to minimize the turnovers because that was a big problem and that kind of brought us down."
Carrier said the Tigers kept fighting despite their problems.
Junior forward Jordan Greenleaf scored nine points against Kentucky's tough defense.
"The hardest part was their pressure defense," Greenleaf said. "They were all over us for 40 minutes nonstop and they kept subbing people in and out so they kept fresh legs in there. They were able to play that type of defense and I think it rattled us at first."
Greenleaf said playing on the road is hard because of the lack of fans.
"Of course at home there is your fan base, they're like your sixth man because they give you so much energy," Greenleaf said. "When
the crowd gets into it it totally boosts your confidence. On the road it's kind of the complete opposite, when you hush the crowd that's when it gives you that energy because they have nothing to cheer for."
The Tigers continue their conference road play when they take on No. 3 Tennessee (17-2, 5-1 SEC) in Knoxville tonight at 7 p.m.
Carrier said she hopes her hamstring will be recovered by then so she can play her best.
Tennessee lost to Georgia (18-2, 5-1) last week, 53-50, dropping them to No. 5.
The Lady Vols were able to reclaim their No. 3 spot by beating No. 19 LSU (14-4, 3-3 SEC) Sunday, 55-43.
"Tennessee is a young team, but being under Pat (Summitt) I'm sure they've learned a lot in the year they've been with her," Greenleaf said. "Watching them myself over this season and watched them come together and play as a team, but I also know that they are still a bit immature and they can be rattled and they can get upset and can breakdown as well as any other team."
Carrier said although Tennessee has a young team, they have good outside shooters and good post play.
This week the Tigers spent time going over film to prepare for tonight's game.
"We're still confident as far as getting wins in the SEC, we know what we have to do we just have to do it. We're not getting down about anything and we're using the losses to our advantage to move ahead," Carrier said.
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