Kentucky WBB beats Purdue 82-52 on the road to move to 9-1 on the year

Kenny Brooks and No. 16 Kentucky took the 254-mile trek to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on Purdue in order to try and secure their first road win of the season. Though Purdue was 5-4 coming into the game, it was still a Power 4 road game, meaning Kentucky had to come ready to play in order to walk away with a win.

Fortunately, it was the Cats who came out on top, beating the Boilermakers 82-52 to move to 9-1 on the year.

The game begun in very, very slow fashion. Kentucky started the game just 1-7 (0-4 3PT) from the field, and it was Purdue who held a very small 4-2 lead midway through the first quarter. For whatever reason, this team just really struggles to get going offensively right off the jump. To end the first period of play, the Boilermakers led 12-8. Not the most ideal start to the game, to say the least.

Quarter number two started off in similar fashion, unfortunately. Even when Kentucky got open looks, they just couldn’t knock them down. Georgia Amoore was the only one to find any sort of rhythm at all on offense. By the half, she had 13 points to eclipse the 2,000-point mark for her career. The former All-American point guard ended with 21 points on 8-15 shooting against the Boilermakers.

Kentucky got their first lead of the game when Clara Strack got a putback layup to go in to make it 18-17 good guys. She finished the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 31 total minutes. Kentucky led 32-23 at the break.

The second half got started off fairly slow as well, but Dazia Lawrence would hit a few jumpers to give the Cats a 44-33 lead with 4:27 to go in the third quarter. She would add 12 points to the final box score, but it was her six assists that really helped Kentucky in the end. This is the second consecutive game that the Charlotte transfer has recorded 5+ assists.

A 13-0 run in the third quarter would make it a 19-point lead for Kentucky heading into the last quarter of play. It was a 52-33 advantage for the Cats.

The fourth quarter served as a nice finishing touch on the game. Kentucky would round out the game shooting just 30-63 (48%) from the field and 10-33 (30%) from deep, but their elite, elite defense got them through this one. Amelia Hassett was the leading scorer, putting up 22 on 7-13 (5-10 3PT) shooting. She had nine rebounds as well.

Up next is Belmont (5-5, 0-0 MVC) on December 20th, who just narrowly lost to Mississippi State 73-70 — who Kentucky will open up SEC play against on January 2nd. The Cats and Bruins will play in Historic Memorial Coliseum at 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.