Clara Strack (Vicky Graff Photo)
Southeastern Conference coaches did not put a Kentucky player on the SEC preseason first team but two Cats — center Clara Strack and senior Teonni Key — were both named to the second team in voting by the league coaches.
Kentucky was also picked to finish seventh in the league race after placing fourth in the SEC in coach Kenny Brooks’ first season. Texas was picked to win the league title followed by South Carolina, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ole Miss.
Strack and Key were big reasons Kentucky fared so well in SEC play last season. Kentucky led the nation with seven blocked shots per game and had a school-record 218 blocks. Strack and Key combined for 4.1 blocks per game at the end —more than 299 NCAA DI women’s basketball teams averaged last season.
Strack, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore, averaged 15.4 points, 9.7 rebounds (second in the SEC) and 2.5 assists per game. Key had minimal stats in two years at North Carolina but averaged 11.4 points, 8.3 rebounds (seventh in the SEC) and 1.7 assists per game.
Key and Strack combined with returning forward Amelia Hasslet to all average over nine rebounds per game for most of last season — a mark only four other trios had reached in NCAA play.
Strack started all 31 games and set school records in blocks (73) and blocks per game (2.4). Her eight blocks against Mississippi also set a single-game record. She had 15 double-doubles, fourth in the SEC and 26th in the nation. She went 11-for-11 from the field against Tennessee, the most field goal attempts without a miss by a Division I women’s basketball player against an Associated Press Top 15 team since at least 2002-03. She also became the only DI women’s basketball player to have at least 23 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and two assists against an AP Top 25 team since at least 2002-03.
She shot 48.8 percent from the field, eighth in the SEC, and 78.6 percent at the foul line, ninth in the league. The center also had two or more assists in 21 games.
Key had career highs in every statistical category last season while averaging 11.4 points, 8.3 rebounds (seventh in the SEC), 1.7 blocks (fifth in the SEC) and 1.7 assists per game. Her average blocks per game was the third best mark in school history.
Twice she had three straight double-doubles and scored in double figures in 22 games and had 15 or more points in seven games.
