No. 15 Kentucky women’s basketball (5–0) defeated the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (2–2) 79-67 in a highly defensive battle on Monday night.

Kentucky got off to a rough start as, at the first media timeout with three minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Mastodons led the game 15-9 as Kentucky failed to gain any defensive momentum.

Teonni Key made one last jumper off a Mastodon turnover as the quarter ended as the Wildcats shot 8-13 in the first ten minutes, evening out Fort Wayne’s 9-14. Fort Wayne ended the quarter with a 23-19 lead.

Within the first 12 seconds of the second quarter, center Clara Strack found herself on the free-throw line, which closed the Mastodon’s lead to two. Twenty seconds later, Fort Wayne scored from the free-throw line as well, pushing its lead back to 25-21.

At the half, Fort Wayne led 38-33 as Kentucky found itself with eight team fouls and seven turnovers. The Wildcats top two scorers, guard Georgia Amoore and Strack, shot a combined 2-14 from the field while guard Dazia Lawrence was the team’s leading scorer with 12 points.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, Amoore found the net, tying the game 46-46 with a jumper off of a Fort Wayne turnover. Despite that, the Mastodons were able to keep their composure and find the lead once again.

Three minutes later, Strack made two free throws, allowing the Wildcats to take their first lead of the game, going up 52-51. Kentucky kept this newfound momentum to finish the third quarter with a 55-54 lead.

Two minutes into the final quarter, Lawrence sunk her fifth 3-pointer of the night to put the Wildcats up by five. Lawrence scored 21 points throughout the night, shooting 5-8 from three. 

Amoore was the team’s leading scorer with 23 points and played a team-high 40 minutes. 

“(In the first half) I was giving up a lot of opportunities,” Amoore said. “I wasn’t aggressive towards the basket or with my shots at all. I think I was giving up a lot of passes and it got to the point where I was like, ‘I need to switch on and be way more aggressive and however I got those shots is how I do, but I’m going to seek my shot first.’”

The Wildcats will return to action in Nashville, Tennessee, on Nov. 26th, when they take on the Arizona State Sun Devils (3–2) in the Music City Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and will stream live on BallerTV.