Taru Tuukkanen (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        Xavier won its first five games by draining 3-pointers. Win No. 6 came inside.

        Taru Tuukkanen scored 27 points and Jennifer Phillips added 21 — both season highs — as No.19 Xavier beat Kentucky 80-62 on Wednesday night behind its front line.

        With point guard Reetta Piipari slowed by the flu and Kentucky swarming the perimeter, Xavier let the two 6-foot-3 players take advantage of a smaller and less experienced Kentucky front line.

        “We've got all freshmen in the post, and they did an outstanding job of exploiting that,” Kentucky coach Bernadette Mattox said.

        Xavier, off to its best start since it started Division I play in 1982-83, won its first five games by making 48 percent of its 3-point attempts. When Kentucky (2-4) took that away, the Musketeers had two more options — Tuukkanen and Phillips.

Jennifer Phillips | ZOOM |

        “It's going to be one way or the other,” Phillips said. “They're going to collapse on us and our guards will be open, or they'll guard (the perimeter) like tonight and we're going to be open. That's what makes us a great team.”

        Tuukkanen missed only one of her seven shots in the second half and finished 12-of-19 from the field. Phillips made nine foul shots.

        UK has lost consecutive games to ranked teams. The Wildcats lost to No.5 Purdue 87-67 on Friday.

        Kentucky lost its best post player with 9:22 to play when Tuukkanen rolled onto SeSe Helm's left leg while going for a loose ball, hurting her knee. Helm, a freshman who had a team-high 11 points at the time, initially was diagnosed as having a sprain but will have X-rays today.

        The lights on one side of the court went out with 1:22 to play. After a brief delay, the game was completed with dimmed lighting at the new Cintas Center.

KENTUCKY (62)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Mendeng         28   5-9   2-2   4-7  2  2   12
Mcdole          36  4-12   0-2  9-12  1  3    8
Helm            20   5-9   0-0   2-3  1  2   11
Hawthorne       30  3-10   1-1   0-2  4  3    8
Stoglin          9   0-2   0-0   0-3  0  2    0
Adams           30  3-10   1-3   0-2  2  3    7
Connolly        26  4-10   0-0   2-3  3  1   10
Jones           21   3-4   0-0   1-4  0  5    6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-66   4-8 18-36 13 21   62
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.409, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
4-10, .400 (Helm 1-1, Hawthorne 1-4, Adams 0-2,
Connolly 2-3). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1
(Adams). Turnovers: 20 (Mendeng 9, Connolly 4,
Adams 3, Mcdole 2, Jones, Stoglin). Steals: 6
(Adams 4, Helm, Jones).


XAVIER (80)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Phillips        36  6-13  9-10   3-4  5  0   21
Levandusky      27   4-9   0-0   4-8  4  4    9
Tuukkanen       34 12-19   3-4  3-12  3  4   27
Piipari         38   0-3   6-9   0-3  9  2    6
Parr            40   3-8   0-0   0-0  1  1    9
Kreager          7   1-2   0-0   1-3  0  1    2
Hall             3   1-1   0-0   0-0  1  0    2
Bell            15   2-3   0-1   0-1  0  1    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 29-58 18-24 11-31 23 13   80
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
4-12, .333 (Levandusky 1-4, Piipari 0-2, Parr
3-5, Bell 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
2 (Tuukkanen 2). Turnovers: 12 (Phillips 4,
Piipari 3, Parr 2, Bell, Kreager, Tuukkanen).
Steals: 6 (Levandusky 3, Piipari 3).
__________________________________
Kentucky           27   35  -   62
Xavier             33   47  -   80
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Kentucky 1 (Team).  A: 2,180.
Officials: David Stewart, Judith Schneider,
Beverly Roberts.

       

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