Lawrence, Defense Lead Kentucky Past Wofford on Tuesday
Through the first two games of the 2024-25 Kentucky women’s basketball schedule, senior guard Dazia Lawrence had scored 19 points. On Tuesday night, Lawrence almost equaled that total in the first quarter.
Lawrence had 15 points in the first 10 minutes of the game on her way to a UK-high 19 points as the Cats rolled past Wofford 76-42 inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.
The Greenville, North Carolina, native made her first five shots from the floor, including three from behind the arc, along with her first two free throws. She knew she had things going early.
“I was just confident in my shot,” Lawrence said. “Just staying true to myself, not passing up any open shots at all. Just being confident and knocking it down.”
UK head coach Kenny Brooks liked how Lawrence started Tuesday’s contest.
“I thought it was what we needed,” Brooks said. “I keep telling her we brought her here for a reason and I thought she was a little bit hesitant in the first couple of games. I told her to go out there and make nine. She made four. I’ll take it though. Just seeing the ball go through the hoop for her, because she has worked really hard on her game, is something we definitely need.”
Kentucky (3-0) got double-doubles from both Clara Strack and Teonni Key in the victory. Strack, the sophomore from Buffalo, had 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to go with five assists and four blocked shots. Key scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Cats in the game. Georgia Amoore had 11 points and seven assists for Kentucky.
The UK defense was also solid against Wofford. The Cats held the Terriers to 14 of 69 (20.3 percent) shooting from the floor. Kentucky also blocked 10 shots in the victory.
Wofford scored the game’s first point but Kentucky scored the next eight to grab an early seven-point lead. After a Wofford basket, the Cats got a three from Lawrence and a putback from Strack to lead 13-3. The run would continue with UK scoring the next eight points, part of a 21-2 run that gave the Cats a commanding 21-3 lead. Lawrence had 15 of Kentucky’s first 21 points. UK would lead 22-5 after one period of play.
The Kentucky onslaught continued in the second quarter, as the Cats opened with a 10-3 run, keyed by seven points from Key, including the first three-pointer of her career. UK led 34-11 before both teams went cold. There were no points scored for over four minutes of action, until Wofford hit a free throw with 12 seconds left in the half. UK would lead 34-12 after 20 minutes of action.
Kentucky would open the third quarter by scoring the first eight points, stretching the lead to 42-12. The Cats would take their biggest lead of the quarter at 50-18 and would lead 54-25 through three quarters. Amoore scored seven points for the Cats in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Kentucky would lead by as many as 39 points, 72-33, before settling for the 34-point win.
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday, hosting rival Louisville inside Historic Memorial Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on SEC Network Plus.
