LEXINGTON — Behind a stellar performance from Georgia Amoore, fourth-seeded Kentucky women’s basketball defeated 13-seed Liberty, 79-78, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Memorial Coliseum.
The second team All-American had one of the best individual performances for a Kentucky player in March Madness.
Amoore scored or assisted on 18 of Kentucky’s 23 first-quarter points, ending the first half with 23 points and finishing with 34 points to go along with eight assists. She’s now three assists shy of setting a new single-season program record.
This is the 20th game this season in which she scored at least 15 points and had five or more assists.
Amoore also tied a UK record for 3-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament game (six). A’dia Mathies made six 3s versus Dayton in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats (23-7) improved to 3-1 all-time against the Flames, beating them in the first round of March Madness for a second time. With the win, Kentucky advanced the second round of the Big Dance for the first time since 2021. The Wildcats will return to their home court on Sunday to face the winner of Friday afternoon’s matchup between 5-seed Kansas State and 12-seed Fairfield.
UK’s Dazia Lawrence finished with 16 points; her 13th game with three or more treys.
Kenny Brooks’ Wildcats were locked in on the defensive end to defeat the high-scoring Conference USA champions.
The Cats lead the nation in blocks per contest (entering Friday’s game averaging 6.9). They had four blocks in the first quarter against Liberty and finished with 12. Clara Strack, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, was a force in the paint, with 10 rebounds and two blocks in the victory before fouling out.
The Wildcats only trailed for 14 seconds in the game, and their largest lead was 67-52 in the fourth quarter.
Right when the game looked out of reach for the Flames, they went on a 16-2 run in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to one with 1:08 remaining in regulation.
Amoore answered with a left-handed layup on the following possession to put the Cats up, 76-73.
Liberty’s Elisabeth Aegisdottir responded, scoring on a second-chance basket on the other end to make it 76-75 with 46 seconds to go.
Amoore hit two clutch free throws with 10.9 seconds on the clock to give the Wildcats a 78-75 lead.
Liberty was led by Emma Hess, who had a team-high 17 points, as the Flames dropped to 2-18 all-time in NCAA Tournament games.
Brooks is now 11-3 against Liberty and its longtime coach, Carey Green. Brooks went 7-2 against the Flames during his time leading James Madison and recorded a 3-1 record versus Green as Virginia Tech’s head coach.
This story will be updated.
Reach sports reporter Prince James Story at [email protected] and follow him on X at @PrinceJStory.
