Georgia Amoore, Dazia Lawrence explain how Kentucky avoided complete collapse vs. Liberty

On Friday, Kentucky Women’s Basketball narrowly earned its first NCAA Tournament win in over three years with a one-point victory over 13-seed Liberty. While the ‘Cats had a 16-point lead in the second half, the Liberty Flames fought hard and came back late in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to only one.

Thankfully, Georgia Amoore, Dazia Lawrence, and the rest of the Wildcats rallied to seal the deal on a first-round victory.

“I think just to meet the energy and the moment. You know, you see it by the bank three. Anything can happen,” Amoore said when asked about how Kentucky pulled off the win. “We had to be on guard and kind of initiate oars and not reactive. In that stretch we were reactive.”

“Also just stay calm, poised, focused. It’s March. Anything can happen,” Lawrence added. “So just staying true to ourselves and not letting anything else make us make mental mistakes like that.”

Liberty came back from a double-digit deficit to put every Kentucky fan in Memorial Coliseum on the edge of their seat. However, it was Amoore and Lawrence’s poise, confidence, and leadership that helped end the game with a victory.

“I mean, they definitely turned up the intensity and the pressure,” Amoore said regarding Liberty’s run in the fourth quarter. “We can’t get stagnant. We have to keep moving and creating for each other and just be confident. Move to want to shoot. Move to want to be open. Just I don’t think we had the mindset like we did in the first half.”

“It’s the same mentality every tournament,” Amoore continued. “I think within the five [NCAA Tournaments] I’ve had very different outcomes all five, so obviously want to make the push this last one and treat it as such. But the mentality has always just been the same, to just go out and put your best effort out.”

Amoore finished Friday’s matchup with a program record-tying 34 points on 12-24 (50%) from the field and 6-10 (60%) from three. She added eight assists, two rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. In fact, Amoore said she didn’t even know that she was one point away from setting a new NCAA Tournament record at UK. If she had scored one more point, Georgia Amoore would hold the record for the most points scored in a Women’s NCAA Tournament game (35) for the ‘Cats.

“Just focus on defense. If offense isn’t flowing we have to focus on defense and getting stops so we can try to go in transition, because we can really go in transition,” Lawrence said when asked about how she stays focused when the offense isn’t clicking. “That’s my focus and that’s the rest of the team’s focus. When one thing isn’t working we have to pick it up in another aspect of the game.”

The senior finished with 16 points on 5-13 (38%) from the field and 3-9 (33%) from the perimeter. She added three assists, two rebounds, and two blocks. Besides Dazia Lawrence and Georgia Amoore, Clara Strack was the only other Wildcat to finish in double digits. She marked 15 points and 10 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season, as well as two blocks, two steals, and an assist.

Up next, 4-seed Kentucky plays 5-seed Kansas State on Sunday, March 23, back at Memorial Coliseum. The time for tipoff is TBD but should be announced later today.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.