Kentucky women’s basketball’s March Madness run came to a bittersweet end, with the Wildcats falling to Kansas State 80-79 in the final three seconds of an overtime thriller.
Historic Memorial Coliseum hosted UK’s final game of the season, packed to the brim with fans covered in blue and white.
The Wildcats started the game with their tried-and-true starting five: Georgia Amoore, Dazia Lawrence, Clara Strack, Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key.
Strack wasted no time starting the game off hot, scoring an opening 3-point shot in the first ten seconds. Following a rough first-round performance, it was a much-needed confidence boost and started a 7-0 scoring run for UK.
Kansas State could not find the net in the first four minutes, which was unexpected from the team with one of the best offensive production ratings in the country. The Wildcats’ star player and Point Guard of the Year finalist, Serena Sundell, put Kansas State on the board with back-to-back scoring drives.
Sundell led the Wildcats on a 7-0 scoring drive, fueled by a four-minute Kentucky scoring drought. However, the momentum didn’t last long as Strack responded with two baskets, followed by Lawrence.
Hassett contributed back-to-back 3-pointers to keep Kentucky on top 20-15 as the first period ended. The score was in part due to the Cats shooting 4-9 from the three, compared to Kansas State, which shot 3-11.
The second half was an offensive challenge for UK. It shot 0-9 over a five-minute stretch, allowing State to go on a 6-0 run and tie the game before taking over the lead with two free throws.
It was a surprisingly quiet half for Amoore, who only scored five points while shooting an out-of-character 1-4 from the three and 2-9 from the field. Luckily for Kentucky, Strack stepped up and totaled 15 points to keep the game within reach.
Apart from the offensive drought, the Wildcats’ biggest struggle in the first half was matching up with Kansas State’s defense, which recorded seven blocks on the blue-and-white, four of them from Temira Poindexter.
The Cats found success in stopping Kansas State’s all-time leading scorer, Ayoka Lee. They held her to only six points and drew three fouls on her in the first half, which limited her play time substantially — which would be a big determining factor in the game’s results.
As the clock hit zero, Lawrence put up a jump shot, allowing the Cats only to be down 33-31 heading into the half.
Unfortunately, Kentucky would now be facing its biggest enemy: the halftime period.
It has been one too many times this season that Kentucky would come out of the locker room at halftime and start the second half looking beyond lost and even defeated in some scenarios. Even in the games the Cats would hold a significant halftime lead, they allowed opponents to find themselves in the game due to their post-halftime slump.
The game was easily playing out to be Kentucky’s biggest test of the season — both physically and mentally. In its first-round near-loss to Liberty, Head Coach Kenny Brooks and the team emphasized that, while they had won the game, they had lost the mental test — and the team would not make that same mistake again tonight.
Kentucky stuck to its word and not only killed the halftime slump curse, but also played with more confidence and was more driven than has been seen all season.
Where Kentucky would previously lose clear momentum and let a scoring drought kill confidence, this time around, it seemed that the droughts instead fueled them to want a basket more.
The Cats started the second half outscoring State 8-4 in the opening minutes to take the lead, thanks to offensive rebounding that allowed Kentucky to score six second-chance points.
The team’s energy had Historic Memorial Coliseum shaking. After a somewhat questionable foul called on Lawrence, the crowd got on its feet to deliver some of the loudest noises and words of disapproval, which added more fuel to the fiery Kentucky team.
Lawrence took the foul personally and quickly delivered a scoring drive from a media timeout, and the game was officially tied once again.
The game was as back-and-forth as one could’ve expected. The lead changed ten times in the third quarter and, as time ran out, Kentucky was only down one point, 54-53.
In traditional Amoore Style, the ESPN Transfer of the Year put up the first points of the final ten minutes with a wide-open 3-point shot.
Four minutes down on the clock, the crowd erupted in cheers with a Lawrence layup, forcing Kansas State to take a timeout while the fans grew more deafening, and Kentucky took over with a 58-57 lead.
The baskets continued to be exchanged between the two Wildcats. Kentucky took over with three minutes left in the game, 64-61, and had the sea of blue in HMC roaring louder than ever before. This gave the Cats enough momentum and confidence to force yet another Kansas State timeout.
Kentucky held the lead for a few minutes, but Kansas State responded with two 3-point shots to take back over with 39 seconds left in the game. It became very clear that the outcome of this game would be determined in the final few seconds.
Amoore slammed down a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go, putting UK back on top by two. However, Sundell answered the play with a jump shot, and the two teams were tied with eight seconds to go.
The buzzer went off, and, with the two teams tied at 68, Kentucky entered its first overtime game of the season since defeating Louisville at home back in December.
The first points of the five-minute period were scored with a Key layup, which was quickly responded to by Sundell, tying the teams at 71. The baskets continued to be exchanged in the next minute or so, but Kentucky took over a 79-77 lead with 1:09 on the clock.
Kansas State took over again, up 80-79 with 17 seconds left. State took its final timeout of the game. With three seconds left in the game, a missed layup would have Kentucky fall two points short of victory.
