Freshman Emily McDonald sets Kentucky record with nine 3-pointers

Kentucky freshman Emily McDonald made nine 3-pointers on Wednesday night, a single-game program record, and scored 27 points as No. 12 Kentucky beat Evansville 98-30 at Historic Memorial Coliseum, per Kentucky Athletics and the AP.

She took 12 threes and made nine. Every basket she scored came from behind the arc, and she did not attempt a free throw, per the ESPN box score. The old record was eight, set by Rhyne Howard on Feb. 27, 2022, and matched by teammate Ajša Sivka on Sunday against NC State. McDonald broke it three days later.

The record came late. McDonald hit three threes in the opening four minutes of the fourth quarter to reach nine, per the AP, the last one pushing the lead to 89-24.

This is a sharp turn from her first three games. McDonald, a 6-foot guard from Buffalo, New York, scored 10 against Morehead State, then two each against Northern Kentucky and NC State. She was 1-of-12 from three across those games, per her ESPN game log. Wednesday's 27 points were a season high.

Kentucky had plenty of help. Me'Arah O'Neal scored 18 on 6-of-7 shooting with eight rebounds, Sivka added 12 and Clara Strack had 11. Freshman Savvy Swords grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and freshman Maddyn Greenway had eight assists, per WYMT. As a team, Kentucky went 18-of-39 from three, tying its program record for makes for the second game in a row.

The defense did the rest. Evansville scored four points in the second quarter and trailed 46-11 at halftime. Jayden Scott led the Purple Aces with 14. Kentucky is 4-0, and Evansville fell to 0-3.

Kentucky hosts Eastern Michigan on Sunday at noon ET on SEC Network. The thing to watch is whether McDonald keeps getting the looks. One record night against an overmatched opponent does not lock in a rotation spot, but a freshman who can stretch a defense like this gives Kentucky another weapon once SEC play starts.