Kentucky-Florida women’s game marred by fight, 8 ejected

Kentucky-Florida women’s game marred by fight, 8 ejected

No. 14 Kentucky beat 11th-seeded Florida 72-57 on Wednesday in an SEC Tournament game marred by a scuffle.

The game had a 22-minute delay for an official review following an altercation between Florida forward Tatyana Wyche and Kentucky forward Ajae Petty with 5:26 remaining in the second quarter. Wyche threw the ball in the direction of Petty and then chased after her down the court. No punches appeared to be thrown, but several players left the bench area leading to eight ejections — four from each team.

“Well, obviously that’s not how we want to represent ourselves as Florida women’s basketball and in the competitive spirit,” Florida coach Kelly Rae Finley said. “So first and foremost, I apologize for that because that is not representative of the SEC, University of Florida, or how we compete.”

Kentucky (11-18) snapped a seven-game losing streak to advance to play No. 6 Alabama on Thursday.

Robyn Benton scored 20 points, Adebola Adeyeye had 11 points and 17 rebounds.

Nina Rickards scored 19 points and Alberte Rimdal added 15 for Florida (16-14). Rickards completed a three-point play with 2:15 left in the third quarter to give Florida its first lead, 41-39, since it was 4-2.

The Gators played without Ra Shaya Kyle, Faith Dut, and sisters Taliyah and Tatyana Wyche in the second half. The Wildcats were without Cassidy Rowe, Eniya Russell, Zennia Thomas and Saniah Tyler after the altercation as well.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.