Sivka Drills Eight Threes as Kentucky Stays Unbeaten With 93-78 Win Over NC State in Charlotte

Ajša Sivka put on a record-setting shooting performance at Spectrum Center on Sunday afternoon. The first-year guard scored 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting and made 8 of her 12 three-point attempts, leading No. 14 Kentucky to a 93-78 win over No. 25 NC State. Her eight threes tied the Kentucky single-game record that Rhyne Howard had held alone since hitting eight against Auburn on Feb. 27, 2022. Kentucky’s 18 threes as a team tied the program’s single-game record, which Kenny Brooks’ team set in the 2025 SEC opener against Mississippi State. The Wildcats are now 3-0 and 1-0 against AP Top 25 opponents, and for the third straight season under Brooks they have won their first game against a ranked opponent.

Kentucky went with its usual starting five of Diana Collins, Asia Boone, Sivka, Me’Arah O’Neal and Clara Strack, and won the opening tip. Sivka scored first on a driving layup. Strack and O’Neal followed with early threes, and the Wildcats made their first eight shots from the field. An 11-0 run capped by a Boone three at the 5:22 mark pushed the lead to 21-5. NC State stayed in the game behind Khamil Pierre, who scored 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the first quarter alone and scored the Wolfpack’s final eight points of the period, including back-to-back layups off turnovers. Kentucky made 7 of 9 threes in the quarter and led 29-24 after one.

The Wolfpack completed their comeback early in the second quarter. Khady Leye made two free throws, Zoe Brooks converted an and-one, and Qadence Samuels hit a three off a turnover to tie the game at 32. Brooks then made two free throws for a 34-32 lead at the 7:23 mark, the only time NC State led all afternoon. Sivka answered right away with a three, and Kentucky closed the half with a 24-12 push. Savvy Swords hit a three at 5:45 that gave the Wildcats 10 made threes before halftime, and she added another later in the quarter. Boone hit one in transition, and Strack knocked down a second-chance three with 1:16 left to make it 13 threes for the half, a school record for a single half. Kentucky shot 62.5 percent from the field and 13-of-21 from deep before the break and led 56-44 at halftime.

Strack opened the third quarter with a jumper. Sivka followed with another three, and a Strack jumper at 5:47 gave Kentucky its biggest lead of the day at 63-46. NC State went just 2-of-16 from the field in the period but stayed within reach at the free-throw line, where Pierre and Brooks combined for eight straight points to cut the deficit to 63-52. Strack ended that run with a three in transition, Sivka hit another from deep with 1:41 left, and O’Neal made a pair of free throws to make it 72-58 after three quarters.

The Wolfpack never got closer than 13 in the fourth. Strack hit a jumper and Collins made two free throws to keep the margin steady early in the period. Sivka scored on a jumper and the free throw that followed at 6:44, then went over 30 points with a three at 5:44, making her the first Wildcat to score 30 since Strack did it against Georgia on March 5, 2026. Swords scored on a layup inside four minutes and Strack added a driving layup. Boone’s three with 1:40 left pushed the lead back to 17, and Kentucky closed out a 93-78 win.

The senior center Strack finished with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-7 from three, along with a team-high eight rebounds, four assists and a team-high two blocks. Sivka and Strack each scored at least 24, which is only the second time since 2002-03 that two Wildcats have done that against an AP-ranked opponent; the first was Evelyn Akhator and Makayla Epps against No. 5 South Carolina on March 4, 2017. Strack has 12 blocks through three games and is 19 away from tying Kentucky’s career record. Swords, a freshman forward and Kentucky’s first player off the bench, added 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting with five rebounds. Collins led the team with four assists. Kentucky shot 53.2 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three, only the third time since 2002-03 that it has shot at least 53 percent against a ranked opponent. Its 93 points are the second-most it has scored in regulation against an AP-ranked team since 1992-93, behind only the 95 it put up at No. 13 Oklahoma on Feb. 2, 2025. The Wildcats also outrebounded NC State 38-29 and improved to 25-1 under Brooks when they score at least 80 points.

Pierre led all scorers with 34 points on 12-of-25 shooting and went 9-of-13 from the line. Brooks added 13 points, 11 of them on free throws. NC State, now 2-1, won the paint 34-20 and made 27 of 33 free throws while Kentucky made 9 of 14, but the Wolfpack shot just 3-of-11 from three and could not match Kentucky’s shooting from outside. The win snapped NC State’s three-game win streak in the series, which the Wolfpack still lead 5-3 all time. Brooks, in his third season at Kentucky, improved to 51-19 with the Wildcats and 18-1 in November.