If you liked offense, you got yourself a show when Kentucky women's basketball travelled to Nashville to take on No. 5 Vanderbilt. Kentucky opened up red hot with 4 straight makes from deep, and would rush out to a 20-8 lead. Of course, Vanderbilt would make a run, outscoring Kentucky 16-6 the rest of the quarter to close the gap to 2. The rest of the game looked a lot like that.
Kentucky and Vanderbilt struggled to miss in incredibly played 1st half
For Vanderbilt it was a two-woman show in the first half. Mikayla Blakes and Aubrey Galvan who dominated the scoring. The two young ladies had a combined 31 of Vanderbilt's 44 first half points. They got to the rim at will but it was the 3 ball that got Vandy back in it, the Dores were 6-15 in the opening 2 quarters.
Kentucky countered with a balanced attack that saw 7 players score and 5 score at least 6. Asia Boone made her first 2 3's but missed her next 4, but still managed to lead the Cats with 10. Freshman Kaeyln Carroll came in and hit 2 big 3's to give the Cats a much needed bench lift.
Overall both teams shot over 50% from the floor, hit all their free throws and only turned the ball over a combined 7 times.
Which team would blink first?
The second half saw Kentucky try to establish Clara Strack early on, she took 3 of the teams first 5 shots. Unfortunately, she could only convert on one of them while Vandy's Blakes-Galvan combo continue to cook.
Vandy opened the 3rd 4-4 from the field while Kentucky was just 2-5. The Cats, though, still managed to keep it tied behind an Asia Boone 3 and a Clara Strack free throw. Tonie Morgan kept getting to the rim, but she struggled to finish; she was 2-8 with 5 minutes to play in the third.
Turnovers hurt Kentucky WBB again
Kentucky only turned it over 3 times in the 1st half, but had 5 in the first 6 minutes. The missed layup curse also found its way to the women, as Obi missed an easy one and then found the top of the backboard on a more difficult one.
But Clara Strack found Obi for a baseline jumper off the offensive rebound, and then took it coast to coast to give the Cats back the lead. Strack would add 2 more off a block, her 74th of the season. That block broke the record she set last year of 73 blocks in a single season. It also helped Kentucky take a 4-point lead to the 4th quarter, just like they did at HMC in the first meeting.
Could Kentucky hang on to the lead this time?
The Cats were still cold from deep, starting the 4th quarter 0-3 from behind the arc. While Mikayla Blakes didn't have any problem finding the bottom of the net. She opened up the 4th, scoring 9 of the first 11 for the Dores and giving them a 1-point lead with 5:20 to go.
Amelia Hassett finally found one from deep to put the Cats back up 2. The two teams would trade blows the rest of the way.
After Hassett missed an open corner 3, Vandy took a timeout to set something up with 1:37 to go.
Shea Ralph put the ball in Blakes hand but Vandy couldn't convert. Kentucky took a timeout with 1:21 to go, but the refs spotted a possible foul on Amelia Hassett. They went to the monitor and announced it was just incidental contact.
Kentucky couldnt make an open 3, and Mikayla Blakes put the Dores up 1 from the free throw line. Tonie Morgan hit the paint and finally converted at the rim to put Kentucky up 1.
Vanderbilt took almost all the time off the clock before freshman Aubrey Galvan found a screen and Clara Strack was a second late. She buried a free throw line jumper for her 20th point to put Vandy up 1.
Kenny Brooks called another timeout to draw and set up the play he wants.
Tonie Morgan was fouled with 5.3 to go as Vandy had one foul to give. Kenny Brooks took his last timeout
Clara Strack turned it over as she tried to drive into a croweded lane, and Vandy escaped 81-79.