With three seconds on the clock, Georgia Amoore moved outside the paint and attempted a jump shot to give Kentucky the lead.

Unfortunately, the floater did not fall, and the Wildcats would fall to Kansas State in overtime during the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. 

While many players are often seen down in disappointment following such an unfortunate game-ending play, Amoore went through the handshake line with her head held up high and with no change in demeanor. 

When asked about it postgame, she didn’t need many words to make her point:

“I’m not going to let one shot affect five years; that’s pretty much it,” she said.

Though the season didn’t end the way Kentucky had hoped, Amoore expressed nothing but gratitude for her lone season in Lexington.

“It’s been such a blessing for both of us to bring Kentucky back,” she said, sitting alongside senior Dazia Lawrence and Head Coach Kenny Brooks. “Obviously, Kentucky is the name brand on the men’s side. I told the girls: it’s up to you, but hang around, because it’s only going to go up from here. It’s an attractive style of play. Coach Brooks proves that he’s a winner.” 

The 5-foot-6 guard from Australia appeared in 158 career games, starting 155 of them, all under Brooks. Their bond was unshakable.

“I think nothing really needs to be said,” Amoore reflected. “You can look at every single year, my decision to come here… This year we probably drained ourselves in some capacity to be successful.”

Amoore began her college career at Virginia Tech, stepping into a starting role as a freshman. She averaged 11.8 points, 4.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game, shooting nearly 40% from three, getting ACC Freshman of the Week honors in February 2021.

As a sophomore, she led the ACC in made threes (70), earning first team All-Tournament and All-ACC honorable mention honors.

Junior year came around, and Amoore was only getting better. Starting in all 36 games, she broke Tech’s single-season 3-point record with 118, which was the second-most in the country behind future WNBA star Caitlin Clark. She became the first Hokie to record a triple-double, finishing with 24 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds against Nebraska.

She concluded the season with 16.3 PPG, 4.9 APG and 3 RPG, with more accolades than ever. She earned first team All-ACC, AP All-America honorable mention, was the MVP of the ACC Tournament and the Most Outstanding Player of the Seattle 3 Regional. 

Her senior year solidified her stardom as she etched herself further into the Hokie record book. 

Amoore had nine double-doubles, scored 20 or more points in 16 games, including a program-record 39-point performance against Virginia, and broke a single-game block record with 16 against HCU.

She earned first team All-ACC for the second straight year, along with third team All-American honors from the AP and WBCA, and a spot on the WBCA Region 1 Coaches All-America team.

Her final season with the Hokies ended with her being named first team All-ACC for the second year in a row, second team ACC All-Tournament, third team AP All-American, third team WBCA All-American and WBCA Region 1 Coaches All-American. 

During her four years in Blacksburg, she climbed the record books and finished ranking third in games started (121), third in career points (1,853), fourth in career double-figure games (92), fourth in field goals made (648), second in 3-pointers made (293) and first in career assists (656).

More notably, she helped lead the Hokies to their first ACC Tournament title in 2023, their first ACC regular-season title in 2024 and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a historic run to the Final Four in 2023.

In Tech’s Final Four game against LSU, Amoore became the first men’s or women’s player ever to make 23 or more 3-pointers in a single NCAA Tournament.

She was then projected as a first-round pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, but fate had other plans. 

Nine days after Brooks was named Kentucky’s head coach, Amoore announced that she would use her final year of eligibility to follow him to Lexington.

While Amoore only spent one season with the Cats, it was one of the most memorable years she could have imagined.

She was named Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week and SEC Player of the Week twice, and also earned honors as Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Player of the Week.

Her season accolades included All-America second team selections from the Associated Press, USBWA and The Sporting News. She was a semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy, placed on the John R. Wooden Award Top 15 ballot, named All-SEC first team and was recognized as ESPN’s Transfer of the Year and the SEC Newcomer of the Year. 

Currently, she is a top-five finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award and appeared on the late-season watch list for The Dawn Staley Award.

Statistically, it was her most impressive season yet. Through 31 games, Amoore averaged 19.6 PPG, 6.9 APG and 2.3 RPG, shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from three. 

She surpassed 2,400 career points and 800 assists, and tied Kentucky’s single-game scoring record with a 43-point performance against Oklahoma.

During the season, she became the only current Division-I player for both men’s and women’s teams to have at least 2,000 career points and 800 assists (855).

More notably, against UGA, she became the third player in D-I women’s basketball history to have at least 2,300 career points and 800 career assists, joining Clark from Iowa (2020-24) and Sabrina Ionescu from Oregon (2016-20).

With an entirely new roster, Amoore led Kentucky to a 23-8 record and the program’s most regular-season wins since 2019–20. Her leadership and competitive spirit became the foundation of the team.

“I think I hear it all the time. I’m too short, I’m not quick enough, I’m not this, I’m not that,” she said. “But it’s like, okay, what am I then because we’re a ranked team, people scout for me. I don’t know if that’s a nobody, then.”

That confidence never faltered, even when Kentucky gave up a 14-point halftime lead to LSU or faced adversity throughout the season. Amoore always kept her message clear.

“I squeezed every single ounce of whatever orange juice was in that orange. That has been my college career,” she said. “I take pride in that. I just take little wins every single day.”

With Amoore at the helm, Kentucky returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022, earning a four-seed for only the fifth time in program history. 

She delivered yet another statement performance in her fifth straight March Madness appearance. She joined Clark, Kelsey Plum and Candice Wiggins as the only women to record at least 34 points and eight assists in an NCAA Tournament game. 

That effort against Liberty also tied the Kentucky record for most points scored in an NCAA Tournament game.

Unfortunately, Kentucky would then face Kansas State, the last opponent of her college career. But her legacy was already cemented for Amoore and Big Blue Nation.

“It’s been such a blessing to be the foundation and push the program forward,” she said. “The greatest thing has been seeing the crowd come back, game after game.”

Now a projected top-10 pick in the WNBA draft, Amoore leaves behind a career that stretched from Blacksburg to Lexington, defined by resilience, record-breaking moments and relentless leadership.