No. 20 Kentucky women’s basketball crushes a conference favorite. Louisville is up next.

Every time Kenny Brooks passed Dazia Lawrence before Kentucky’s 76-42 victory over Wofford on Tuesday, he told her — “Go be you.”

“We brought her here for a reason,” Brooks said. “And I thought she was a little bit hesitant the first couple games, trying to feel it out, as so many of them are. They’re just trying to figure out, what’s the identity of this group? Who’s going to step up, who’s going to knock down shots? Every time I passed her in the hallway, every time I passed her up on the court, I’m like, you know, ‘Just go be you. Go be you.’“

After scoring 19 combined points against South Carolina Upstate and Northern Kentucky, Lawrence delivered a team-high 19 points against the Terriers in Memorial Coliseum. Lawrence scored 15 of the Wildcats’ first 21 points and was perfect from the field during the first quarter. Her fast start lifted UK to a double-digit lead it never lost. Overall, Lawrence made 6 of 9 shots from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Brooks said, “I thought it was what we needed.”

“I told her to go out there and make nine,” Brooks joked. “She made four. I’ll take it, though. I’ll take it. But just seeing the ball go through the hoop for her, because she’s worked really hard on her game, is something that we definitely need.”

Wofford head coach Jim Garrity said Lawrence was a difficult matchup for his roster.

“She’s just an outstanding player, and when she’s making 3s, that’s trouble,” he said. “And so, for us, we thought we would first, let’s let her make a couple when she’s the only woman on their team that made more than one 3. ... When she’s cooking a little bit, it’s trouble.”

Lawrence was one of four Wildcats to score in double figures against the Terriers (2-1), who were voted the preseason favorite to win the Southern Conference.

Point guard Georgia Amoore added 11 points, three rebounds, seven assists and one steal. Sophomore center Clara Strack recorded her second consecutive double-double, finishing with 16 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Junior forward Teonni Key also finished with a double-double in her season-best performance with 11 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Key, though a redshirt junior, doesn’t have the veteran experience many players her age have, with much of her time at North Carolina dedicated to rehabbing and responsibly returning from injury. When asked how Key affected the game against Wofford, Brooks called her “the key to what we’re going to do,” pun fully intended.

“She’s the one that has to be able to give us the energy plays,” Brooks said. “Because, like tonight, a lot of people didn’t focus on her. So the shot goes up, she should be able to run in free and grab offensive rebounds, get some stick backs. She’s got to be better with moving her feet a little bit and don’t rely on just blocking shots.

“But she’s a young player. This is her fourth year, but she’s a young player. ... So she’s getting an opportunity now, so now she just needs her feet wet, and understand her importance to us. Because when she’s playing well like that, and it gives us another big body in there, it makes us difficult to deal with.”

Kentucky held Wofford to 20% shooting from the field (14-of-69) and blocked 10 shots — the third consecutive game in which the Wildcats blocked double-digit shots. But the Wildcats also lost the battle on the offensive boards 16-14. Only 14 points came from the bench. Just 22 points came in the paint.

Brooks has high expectations and a strong sense of what he’d like this team to become, but he’s also aware of the limitations of a team that’s only played three games together.

“I want them to be perfect, but we’re not going to be perfect right now,” Brooks said. “... (Lawrence) was extremely hot. So we don’t really have an offense where the ball is going to go to one spot. It’s just, ‘OK, who’s going to get the basketball?’ Some others got the opportunities, just didn’t knock them down at the rate that I would have liked. And so right now, our message is just to continue to play hard and play for each other. And we’re not good enough yet.”

The Wildcats will take their perfect record into Saturday’s annual rivalry showdown with No. 18 Louisville in Memorial.

Saturday

No. 18 Louisville at No. 20 Kentucky

When: 6 p.m.

TV: SEC Network+

Records: Louisville 2-1, Kentucky 3-0

Series: Kentucky leads 34-25

Last meeting: Louisville won 73-61 on Dec. 10, 2023, in Louisville

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