Kentucky puts No. 1 South Carolina on upset alert again. This time, the Gamecocks respond.

The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team gave the No. 1-ranked team in the nation a scare on Thursday night at Memorial Coliseum.

However, the Wildcats lost 95-66 in a game where they led South Carolina by as many as 10, but could not keep up with the Gamecocks’ defensive adjustments.

After Sunday’s 67-48 home loss to then-No. 7 LSU, Kentucky responded well against another undefeated, top-10 opponent for the majority of the game before South Carolina took control in the fourth quarter.

This was the first time these teams had met since the Wildcats upset the Gamecocks in the 2022 SEC Tournament championship game. South Carolina then went on to win the NCAA title and assemble a now-22-game winning streak.

The Wildcats, who were bounced in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament in a loss to Princeton, have almost entirely rebuilt their roster since the last time these teams met, and haven’t been able to find a rhythm that works for them.

UK’s Maddie Scherr led all scorers with 25 points on Thursday night. The transfer from Oregon scored a career high for the second game in a row after putting up 22 against LSU on Sunday. She also contributed four rebounds, six assists and a steal.

“It’s such a journey, and it’s been a really hard journey,” Scherr said of the season so far. “Not everybody has been shooting well on the same nights. I think we all had a better shooting night tonight and you know, that’s our team. That’s what we’re capable of doing. So just sticking together and remembering like, ‘Hey, stay with it. Short memory,’ and keep going after these teams. No matter if it’s the number one team in the country.”

Kentucky entered Thursday night ranked 157th nationally in field goal percentage (41.08) and 305th (out of 350 teams) in three-point percentage (26.80).

Against the Gamecocks, the Wildcats made 42.2 percent (27 of 64) and 40.0 percent (6 of 15) in those two categories, respectively.

South Carolina’s 6-foot-5 Aliyah Boston led the Gamecocks in both scoring, with 21 points, and rebounds, with 11. She also had four of the 11 blocked shots by the much-taller Gamecocks.

South Carolina (17-0 overall, 5-0 SEC) finished the game with points on 10 of its last 12 field goal attempts to hang 29 points on a Wildcats team still searching for its first conference win. The Gamecocks outscored Kentucky 36-15 in the final 10 minutes after taking a 59-51 lead into the fourth quarter.

Before South Carolina unleashed its full superiority, Kentucky (8-9, 0-5) competed, assembling a 12-1 second-quarter run to take a 31-21 lead and bring a vocal Memorial Coliseum crowd of 4,016 to its feet several times.

“That’s the energy we need,” UK head coach Kyra Elzy said of the fan support. “And they feed off of it, our players deserve it. The outcome is still not what we want it to be, we will get there, but to have fans that still support us through this journey is very important to us.”

In the first half, UK found offensive success inside — 32 of the Wildcats’ 66 points were scored in the paint. Forced to get creative against a top team, Kentucky managed to stay competitive by doing what South Carolina does best — getting the ball in the post and making somebody stop you.

On defense, Kentucky deployed a series of changing looks to force a flurry of South Carolina turnovers during its second quarter run.

“I just told them, ‘We can’t back down,’” Elzy said of UK’s defensive performance. “Proud of the team, they stuck with the game plan. We were trying to change up our defense between man and zone, playing personnel defense. But, at the end of the day, we were just flying around, hustling and was able to make some plays.”

However, the Gamecocks restored order with a 16-0 burst of their own and led 37-33 at halftime.

“Sometimes you just gotta let things play out,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of the comeback. “I just wanted to take Kentucky’s best punch to see how we would respond to it. Obviously, we got a group in there that usually does a lot better than what they were performing at today. ... But it’s cool, we’re gonna feel that. I think the most important thing is not to panic. We’ve been in that situation before and we’ll just fight and claw our way out of it.”

The Wildcats committed 15 turnovers, their least since a Dec. 29 loss to Missouri (14). The Gamecocks scored 25 points off those 15 turnovers on Thursday night, and gave up 20 points off the 14 turnovers they committed.

UK’s lack of depth, especially compared to South Carolina’s star-studded bench, really showed in the loss. South Carolina’s bench outscored UK’s 39-10.

UK also failed to capitalize on multiple opportunities at the free-throw line, making only 6 of 14 attempts, whereas South Carolina finished 23 of 29 from the line.

Despite the loss, Elzy said there were lessons to build on going forward.

“We want to win,” the UK coach said. “Our staff and myself have to find a way to keep their confidence up, to keep their morale up. So, I just talked to them about the positives. For three quarters against the No. 1 team in the country, you showed what you were made of. Obviously, they made the run in the fourth. We can learn from that. But that type of heart, intensity — and I thought that was the most confidence we have played with. ... We can take those into our next games and learn from our experiences.“

Next game

Kentucky at Florida

When: 3 p.m. Sunday

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630

Records: Kentucky 8-9 (0-5 SEC), Florida 12-5 (1-3)

Series: Kentucky leads 34-27

Last meeting: Florida won 77-52 on Jan. 20, 2022, in Lexington