No. 20/19 Cats Beat No. 18/18 Cards on Saturday
No. 20/19 Kentucky had four players in double figures and the Cats knocked off No. 18/18 Louisville 71-61 in overtime on Saturday night inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Georgia Amoore led all scorers with 19 points, while Teonni Key had a career-high 17. Dazia Lawrence had 14 for the Cats, while Clara Strack had 12.
Kentucky (4-0) snapped a seven-game losing streak to Louisville in the process, beating U of L for the first time since 2015.
Louisville grabbed the lead early, 4-2, before Kentucky scored eight in row, including four by Strack, to lead 10-4. The Cards answered, scoring seven in a row to take the lead back.
UK responded with a Lawrence layup and an Amoore jumper to lead 14-11. The back-and-forth continued as the Cards scored the next four to lead 15-14. Just before the end of the period, Amoore converted a reverse layup and the Cats led 16-15 after one period.
In the second period, Louisville got off to a quick start, scoring six in a row to lead 21-16. Amoore hit a three-pointer to get UK within two, 21-19. However, U of L went on a 6-2 run to lead 27-21 with 3:51 left in the half.
UK would get a layup from Strack and a jumper from Key to make it 27-25. Louisville answered with a three but Key would score the final basket of the half, cutting the Cards’ advantage to 30-27 at the break.
Early in the third quarter, Lawrence hit a three to get UK within two, 32-30. But again, Louisville had the answer, scoring four straight to lead 36-30. Kentucky would get three straight points from Key to make it 36-33. The Cats would draw even on an Amoore three with 4:50 left in the third quarter. And when Amelia Hassett made a reverse layup, the Cats had run off eight consecutive points and grabbed a 38-36 lead with 3:48 remaining in the period.
With UK leading 39-37, the Cards got three consecutive threes from Imari Berry, as the Cards grabbed a 46-39 advantage. Amoore would hit a three for UK to get the Cats within four, 46-42. That would be the score through three periods.
As the fourth quarter began, Amoore drove to the basket for two, getting the Cats within two, 46-44. However, Berry hit another three and U of L led 49-44. UK got baskets from Key and Strack to make it 49-48 with 8:37 remaining.
UK would continue to hang in the game but was unable to get over the hump. Kentucky finally tied the game, 56-56, on a Hassett layup with 2:27 to play. Hassett would be fouled with 1:39 to play and she converted both free throws to give UK a 58-56 advantage.
Louisville’s Ja’Leah Williams drove to the basket on the Cards’ next possession, but Strack blocked the shot and grabbed the rebound. However, the Cats would turn it over on their next possession. After Louisville came up empty on its next possession, Lawrence was fouled on the UK offensive end with 34.6 seconds remaining. However, she missed both free throws and U of L got the rebound and called timeout to advance the ball to halfcourt.
U of L’s Merissah Russell tied the score on a layup on the ensuing possession. Kentucky had a chance to win on the final possession, but Amoore’s shot was blocked and the game went to overtime.
In the extra time, Key would grab an offensive rebound and was fouled. She made both free throws to give the Cats a 60-58 advantage. Less than a minute later, Strack made two free throws and UK extended the lead to 62-58.
U of L would get one free throw to cut the UK lead to three before Hassett hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 64-59 with 1:57 to play. The Cards would cut it to three on a pair of free throws with 1:43 remaining.
UK would extend the lead on a Lawrence layup with 1:00 to play. Hassett made one of two at the line with 51 seconds to play, making it 67-61.
Amoore would knock down a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left, giving Kentucky a 69-61 lead. Key capped the scoring with a layup with 25 seconds left.
Kentucky returns to action on Monday, hosting Purdue Fort Wayne at HMC. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.
