LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) – For Georgia Amore and Kenny Brooks, for a while at Virginia Tech, Louisville was the team they could not beat. And for the past nine years (seven straight meetings) Louisville has been the team that Kentucky women’s basketball could not beat.
Amore and Brooks finally solved the Cardinals in their last couple of seasons in Blacksburg, Va. And on Saturday, they helped Kentucky end their long skid with a 71-61 overtime win. Both described it as a full-circle moment, and one that will be among their more memorable together.
“Final Four, ACC champs, all of that,” Amore said. “That's great, but I think, you know, this is up there because it's a big rival game, the first win in however long, it's under his era. It's my last time playing Louisville. It's a big win, and it's definitely a game I'll be looking back on after my year this year for sure. You know, the crowd, everything. And just as you said, a full circle moment. We went our whole lives playing against Louisville. First two years lost to them. Second two years won. And I said it at the end, I was like, ‘I don't lose to Louisville anymore, you know?’”
“She can say that,” Brooks piped in. “Because she’s not coming back. I’ve got to still be here.”
And everyone laughed.
Georgia Amore looks to pass in the first half of a 71-61 overtime win over Louisville on Nov. 16, 2024.
The mood was happy after Kentucky erased a seven-point third quarter deficit to win going away in overtime. Its defensive length helped shut down Louisville’s offense late, and some turnovers in key situations by Louisville helped Kentucky offset 24 turnovers of its own – eight by Amore.
But the All-American point guard did not get discouraged by the giveaways. She also finished with 19 points and nine assists. And earned high praise from Jeff Walz of Louisville.
“Amore is as good as there is,” he said. “And what I was impressed with her is as rattled as we got her -- I mean she turned the damn ball over eight times guys, we did a heck of a job --- she kept playing. And that's what I've always admired about her, is no matter how rattled we got her, you never saw it on her face. And that's the sign of a great point guard. And she is. I've got a ton of respect for here, and I always have.”
Brooks said Louisville was the last hurdle for his Virginia Tech program to climb on its way to winning the ACC and reaching a Final Four.
“They were the last team we beat in the ACC,” he said. “We beat all the other ones, and they were the very last one. . . . But it’s Game 4. I never played a Jeff Walz team in November. It's always been in January, February, March, when we’ve both known our teams. We both don’t know our teams right now. It was a little bit different. . . . I really didn’t know what to expect. I had no idea.”
His team got off to a good start, but fell behind in the third quarter and could’ve packed it in, but didn’t. And in fact, it was the team that seemed to keep its head better down the stretch of the game.
Every point Kentucky scored came from its starting lineup. Some unfortunate injuries send Brooks into this season more shorthanded than he thought he would be.
Teonni Key, a 6-4 forward who transferred from North Carolina, had 17 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Dazia Lawrence added 14 points and Clara Strack had 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks shouts to his team during a 71-61 overtime win over Louisville on Nov. 16, 2024.
“I've known Teonni since she was 11 years old,” Brooks said. “I recruited her sister, Tamari. I know her family very well, and it's funny, I’ve got a picture of her when I was taller than her. We're together, and I'm taller than her, and when she came here to visit, I think she was here maybe 12 hour and she committed, and she's like, ‘I'm coming because she wanted to be a part of it.’ She saw what we did at Virginia Tech. I think we beat them six, seven, eight straight times, and she wanted to be a part of that, and she's grown so much, and I think she's going to continue to grow. Having her for two years, I'm very, very excited about it. She's going to get better and better and better. Tonight was a really big step for her. It might have been the best game she's played in her in her college career, and to have it be against Louisville, that's something special.”
For Brooks, who has a handful of wins over Louisville to his credit from Virginia Tech, to get one at Kentucky was a different story.
“BBN is special, obviously,” Brooks said. “You watch the men this week. My Instagram, I can't even get to the funny stuff because it's always something with the men's team popping up with the big win (over Duke). And that's because BBN is so special, and it's why I came here, with the possibilities, with the week that we've had, that's the exact reason why I came here. You know, we added some players that I think that will take us into the future, that are really good. We won a really big game here, and BBN is special. We walked out this morning and they had all those pom poms there (in every seat in Memorial Coliseum), and I'm like, ‘Dang, that's a lot of pom poms.’ But just the thought that every one of those seats is going to have a butt in it, that's exciting, and that's why you come here. And I think that fans have been waiting and hoping for opportunities like this.”
Now, the challenge will be handling some success.
“We've talked about it, and we asked every one of our players, ‘How many of you have played a game when you have a little number beside your name, being ranked?’” Brooks said. “And I think you know, a few of them have, you know, ones we brought from Tech, and I think Teonni had. Now, there's a responsibility with that. Everybody that comes in here, they're going to try to take a swipe at you. So, that's the next thing we need to teach. You have a responsibility when you have that little number beside your name. You have a responsibility with the with the program that you represent, and are you going to take everybody's best shot? That's the next step for us -- just trying to learn how to protect that.”
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