Georgia Amoore waves to UK fans while coach Kenny Brooks applauds after she was recognized for reaching 2,000 points in her collegiate career. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Before Kentucky played Belmont Friday night in Memorial Coliseum, two players — Georgia Amoore and Amelia Hassett — were honored.
Amoore, a fifth-year point guard, recently went over the 2,000-point mark in her collegiate career while Hassett, a junior, went over 1,000 points.
That was a sign of things to come because both players were big point producers in the 84-78 win that was in doubt until the final seconds after Hassett hit a step back 3-pointer with UK only leading by three.
Hassett finished with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-9 from 3-point range. She also had 11 rebounds, her second double-double of the year. She now has scored 15 or more points in three games.
Amoore got two fouls in the first three minutes and scored just three points in the first half when Belmont kept the lead most of the time. However, in the second half she was on fire and scored 20 points.
Amoore went 7-for-13 from 3-point range and also had five assists and three rebounds. It was the first time a Kentucky player had hit seven 3’s in a game since Rhyne Howard did so against Auburn on Feb. 27, 2022. It was her third straight 20-point game and fifth of the season.
“It’s about time,” Amoore said about her shooting. “I have been working on my shot for what feels like a month. My shots had not been dropping but this was a perfect game to do it. I just took advantage of what we had.”
Belmont has lost to No. 13 Kansas State, No. 12 Ohio State and No. 14 Duke this season. It also lost 73-70 at Mississippi State last week.
“We knew it was going to be physical. They have played a lot of good Power 4 teams close. We weren’t going to be the ones to get knocked off and still had a slow start. It took them convincing us,” Amoore said.
“But I’ve played for five years. I have seen every coverage. We work on coverages in practice and shoot-arounds. Teams are throwing a lot of different things at me to see if I can work through it. I have to be smart.”
She was smart enough to know that Hassett did the right thing taking the late 3-point shot.
“We have the most confidence in her. She has expanded her game so much,” Amoore said. “I am so proud of her. That was a big-time shot.’
Kentucky, now 10-1 for the first time since 2019, had three other players in double figures. Guard Dazia Lawrence added 15 points, five assists and five rebounds while Clara Strack and Teonni Key each had 12 points.
Kentucky-Belmont WBB
Photos by Vicky Graff
One Response
The game obviously closer than it should have been with UK being one of better defensive teams in the country. UK got out rebounded, out blocked, and out assisted. Probably lucky to escape with a W. Seems like Clara Strack has had couple of quiet games after getting off to a very good start. I am sure coach still trying to figure out what it will take to get Cassidy
more productive, but he does seem to be giving her as much positive reinforcement as he can.