Kentucky WBB takes down Vanderbilt 96-78 in first road game of SEC play

Kentucky handily beat Mississippi State in their SEC opener, but things were never going to come that easily in every game. Playing Vanderbilt on the road is no small task, and the Cats would have to play at an elite level to knock off the 14-1 Commodores.

Fortunately for Kentucky, they were able to get the win, beating Vanderbilt 96-78 to move to 13-1 (2-0 SEC) on the year.

The momentum that Kentucky had against Mississippi State carried over against Vanderbilt. Kentucky started the game shooting 9-13 (69%) from the field and 6-9 (67%) from three-point range. Georgia Amoore and Amelia Hassett were especially hot, scoring 19 combined points in the first period of play. It was a 31-17 lead for Kentucky through one.

Still, the game was far from over, obviously, The second quarter was the same for the most part, but toward the end of the half, Vanderbilt made a bit of a run to keep it competitive. Hassett would draw her third foul of the game too, which wasn’t ideal for the rest of the game. Dazia Lawrence would have 11 points on 3-4 shooting from deep to help give Kentucky a 51-38 lead at the half.

Lawrence would end the game with 17 points on 6-10 (3-5 3PT) shooting, continuing the hot streak she got on against Mississippi State

The second half got started off rather slow — Vanderbilt is too good of a team to go down without putting up a fight. They even managed to cut the lead to six, making it a 52-46 game midway through the third. However, Teonni Key would begin a Kentucky run that would give them a 70-57 run to end the third quarter. She had 14 points on 5-6 (2-3 3PT) shooting on the day.

The fourth quarter would be the same back-and-forth affair that we had seen in the third quarter. Or, that was until Georgia Amoore decided that this one was over, hitting back-to-back threes to give Kentucky an 85-67 lead with 4:07 to go. She had 24 points and nine assists to cap off the win.

Vanderbilt would end up putting up a great fight against Kentucky, but in the end, the Cats held on to secure their first Quad 1 win of the season. It took a valiant effort from Kentucky to get the win, but nonetheless, Kenny Brooks‘ squad is 2-0 in the SEC.

Next up on the schedule are the Florida Gators (10-6; 1-1 SEC) on Thursday. This will mark the end of Kentucky’s brief two-game road trip before they return home to play Auburn on January 12th. The Cats and Gators will square off at 5 p.m. ET in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on SEC Network.