The No. 16/16 University of Kentucky women’s basketball team faced off against Vanderbilt in Nashville today, January 5, at 3 p.m. ET in Memorial Gymnasium. It was Kentucky’s first Southeastern Conference road game of the 2024-25 season.
Kentucky entered the game with a 12-1 overall record, 1-0 in the SEC, and 1-1 on the road. They were coming off a record-breaking 91-69 win over Mississippi State, where they made 18 three-pointers to break the single-game school record.
Vanderbilt (14-2, 1-1 SEC), on the other hand, has been tough to beat at home this season. Kentucky needed to bring their A-game to hand the Commodores their first home loss. Historically, Vanderbilt has had the upper hand in recent meetings, winning the last three games against Kentucky and leading the series 18-8 at home before today.
Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore and Dazia Lawrence played crucial roles after their impressive performances last game against Mississippi State. Amoore led the Cats with 24 points (six straight 20 plus games) and nine assists, while Lawrence finished with 17 points. Each had three made three-point field goals today helping the Cats finish 15-31 today from behind the arc after making a school record 18 in their last game.
The “triplets” (the frontcourt nickname) had a standout game for all three. Amelia Hassett had 20 points, nine boards, and five assists on 6-10 three-point shooting. Teonni Key finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, on 2-3 3FG’s. As center Clara Strack filled the stat sheet with 17 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assist, and 2 blocks on 1-2 3FG shooting.
Kentucky jumped out to an early lead 18-7 four plus minutes into the game. Hassett knocked down three three-pointers as the Cats made the game tough on the home team. Amoore had ten first quarter points to extend the lead to 31-17 after the first quarter. Vandy fought back after being down 20 in the second quarter to be down 51-38 at the half.
As the second half began, Vandy crashed the offensive glass on the first two possessions and hit two big three-point buckets to cut the lead quickly to 51-44. Coach Brooks called a quick timeout to settle his team down and get them back on track. The Commodores cut the lead to 54-49 but that was as close as they would ever get in the game. Kentucky pushed the game back out to 70-57 by the end of the third quarter.
Vanderbilt 2024 McDonald’s All-American Mikayla Blakes a true freshman point guard is making waves with her impressive skills. She set Vanderbilt’s freshman single-game scoring record with 36 points against Georgia in her last game. Today she led the Commodores again with 24 points.
Sophomore Khamil Pierre who’s been on a hot streak, extended her double-digit scoring streak to 18 games with 19 points today against the Wildcats. Senior Iyana Moore added 17 points for the Commodores.
Kentucky improves to 2-0 in the SEC with 2 wins in the opening week against 13-1 Mississippi State and today versus the 14-1 Commodores. The win over Vanderbilt being a quad-1 win on the road in the NET rankings. The Cats are now 1-1 in Quad-1 wins, and 3-0 in Quad-2 wins. The Wildcats have already eclipsed their win total for last season (12) with 13 wins and are one of five teams at 2-0 in the SEC standings. Joining South Carolina, Texas, LSU and Alabama as the only teams unblemished in league play.
Kentucky plays at Florida on Thursday night and at home against Auburn next Sunday this week. Expect to see Coach Brooks the Cats to move up in the AP Poll this week after quality wins.
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