‘We’re very tough.’ UK women’s basketball displays length, strength in rout of Vandy.

caroline makauskas

Sun, Jan 5, 2025, 6:46 p.m.·5 min read

Following Kentucky’s 96-78 road win against Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon, Kenny Brooks noted how his team might not necessarily appear to outsiders as “one of the tougher teams in the league,” but that the Wildcats will always look to match an opponent’s energy.

“We’re very tough,” Brooks said. “We’ll come out, we’ll match you. And when you have the length that we have, it allows us to get to the boards.”

So, when it was time for the Wildcats (13-1, 2-0 SEC) to travel to Nashville to take on a Commodores roster averaging just over 43 rebounds per game, battling on the boards was the name of the game. Particularly when, despite the fact that Vanderbilt sat just outside the Associated Press Top 25 rankings while the Wildcats have held firm at No. 16 the past few weeks, ESPN Analytics gave UK just a 16.9% chance to win ahead of the matchup.

The final rebounding margin — with Kentucky winning the overall battle 41-39 but losing the offensive boards 19-9 — was slight, but the Wildcats’ defensive performance kept them one step ahead during a contest in which they led for more than 39 minutes of action. UK’s frontcourt trio of Clara Strack, Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key massively impacted the competition; Strack finished with 15 rebounds, 17 points, three assists and two blocks, while Hassett added nine rebounds, 20 points and five assists and Key finished with seven rebounds, 14 points, one block and one steal.

“I thought, Clara Strack, man,” Brooks said, “she’s probably exhausted right now, but 17 and 15 in a game like this she’s going to need some rest. And Teonni did a really good job. Amelia did a really good job. So, I’m really proud of them, because they didn’t battle down. Because Vanderbilt relies upon offensive rebounding, and we did a really good job of securing the basketball.”

Strack making space. @ClaraStrack pic.twitter.com/UHW3grS9Is
— Kentucky Women’s Basketball (@KentuckyWBB) January 5, 2025

Vanderbilt (14-2, 1-1 SEC) also relies upon outscoring its opponents by a large margin. The Commodores entered Sunday’s game with a points differential of 32.6 points per game, ranking fourth among SEC teams this season. Though Kentucky achieved a record-setting 3-point performance against Mississippi State in Thursday’s conference opener, the Wildcats still had some gas in the tank for Vanderbilt.

Against the Commodores on Sunday, UK dropped 31 points in the first quarter — the most points scored by the Wildcats in a first quarter all season. It was a dominant start, bolstered by nine points (three 3-pointers) from Hassett and 10 points from Georgia Amoore. The All-America graduate guard would ultimately finish with a team-high 24 points, plus two rebounds and nine assists, in a performance Brooks said was befitting of “the best point guard in the country.”

“They doubled and they tried to trap her every time she came off of a ball screen,” Brooks said. “And she’s so elusive. And not only is she elusive, but she’ll make you pay for it. Her vision is terrific, and her passing ability is unmatched. I’ve watched her play for, you know, five straight years, and I still get amazed at the way that she’ll pass the ball, where she delivers it, how she finds them.”

It marked the sixth consecutive game in which Amoore contributed at least 20 points. Fellow graduate guard Dazia Lawrence also came up big in the victory, finishing with 17 points, one rebound and a pair of steals.

Kentucky did struggle with foul trouble, as Amoore and Strack each committed three while Hassett and Key were called for four apiece; Key received a technical foul at the 6:52 mark of the second quarter. Brooks noted that his starters understand the weight of each foul, and how that can impact their ability to stay on the floor, but he also believes they’re improving in their navigation of how the game is called.

“They’re smart,” Brooks said. “They understand their value and what they need to do. And we talk about it. We do work on it, and I’m not known as a defensive coach, but we do talk about defense, and we talk about how to guard and how to just not put yourself in harm’s way. And so they do a really good job. They listen, they listen intently, and they try to do everything that we talk about. And you can see them getting better and better at it. And they understand their value, that they need to be on the court.”

Three Commodores finished in double figures in scoring. Iyana Moore had 17 points, while Khamil Pierre recorded a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double. Freshman and former top-10 prospect Mikayla Blakes led Vanderbilt with 24 points and orchestrated her team’s valiant comeback effort; Vanderbilt pulled within as few as five in the third quarter before the Wildcats regained momentum. Brooks said Blakes’ tenacity makes it difficult to contain her growing skill set, and joked that, “I don’t think anybody’s told her that she’s a freshman.”

“She comes at you downhill, hard, and it doesn’t matter what it is,” Brooks said. “I think what gets kind of overshadowed, because she scores so many points, but her defense, she’s very pesky on defense and so she’s going to be a nightmare. You know, there was a couple times during the game I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to have to deal with this for three more years.’ And that’s not really a fun sight, but it makes our league the best league in the country.”

The Wildcats will travel to Gainesville later this week to face the Florida Gators (10-6, 1-1 SEC), who defeated Georgia 73-57 Sunday to earn their first conference win of the year. Senior center Ra Shaya Kyle led Florida with 18 points in the victory. Freshman guard Liv McGill scored 15 points and sophomore Laila Reynolds scored 13.