Cats Reinvent Another Way to Win, Holding Off Gators at Home

Guard Asia Boone (8) not only scored seven points in the fourth quarter but also took a key charge against Florida. (Vicky Graff Photo)

When Kentucky lost senior forward Teonni Key with a dislocated elbow in its Jan. 4 win over Missouri it forced coach Kenny Brooks to “reinvent” his team, especially on defense without Key’s length.

However, the Kentucky coach had to reinvent his strategy again Thursday night in Kentucky’s 94-89 comeback win over Florida because All-American center Clara Strack spent more time on the bench than in the game because of foul trouble.

“Our defense is a little bit different (without Key). We got exposed a little bit tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever been associated with a game where we gave up 35 points in a quarter (like UK did in the third quarter),” said Brooks. “All in all, we did not play great and I have no offenses in my (play)book that don’t include Clara or Teonni. So when neither one of them is out there for a long stretch we put a lot on Tonie.”

No worries. Morgan did just what she has all season by responding in a big way. She had a season-high 26 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field and 9-for-13 at the foul line along with 13 assists. She did have seven turnovers but none in the fourth quarter when UK overcame a 73-66 deficit.

Florida was 0-4 in SEC play coming into the game and lost again despite shooting 64 percent through three quarters, including 84 percent in the third quarter when the Gators went 11-for-13 from the field.

“They’re long, they’re athletic, they’re deep, and they’re going to cause a lot of people some problems. So we were very fortunate to get a win,” Brooks said.  “I’m very happy that we were able to win. It’s not the way you want to win, but we found a way to win. We found a different way to win. And in the SEC, you take the win and move on.”

Strack still scored 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. She had four points in the final four minutes after coming back into the game.

Kentucky (17-2, 4-1 SEC) jumped on top 24-9 and led 29-14 after one quarter before Florida got rolling and picked apart UK’s defense while the Cats went cold shooting-wise. Florida cut the lead to 45-38 at halftime and then blitzed UK 35-21 in period three to take the 73-66 lead over No. 7 UK into the fourth quarter.

Guard Asia Boone and forward Amelia Hassett were a combined 4-for-19 from the field through three quarters. In the fourth period, Boone scored seven points and went 2-for-4 from the field. Hassett also had seven points and went 2-for-2 at the field. Both hit a 3-pointer and also made two foul shots.

Strack made two free throws to give UK an 88-87 lead with two minutes left before Boone drove and hit about a 15-foot floater to put the Cats on top 90-87. Boone then made two free throws after rebounding a missed Florida shot to extend the lead to five.

Boone downplayed her role in the win.

“It was mostly just the other girls creating plays for me to get open shots. Mostly Tonie and Clara because they were so focused on Clara. There were times where I was open because they doubled on Clara. Tonie drove to the basket and I had an open look because they over helped a lot. So that’s how I got open looks,” Boone said.

Boone said UK’s leaders were “yelling at us” late in the game to find ways to win.

“It was more just encouraging us to get out of the funk that we were going on because the basketball game is a game of runs,” Boone said. “They were having their run, but we just kind of kind of stayed stagnant, and our leaders were kind of stepping up and being like, ‘Hey, we need to get out of this funk. We need to get out of this because we’re better than this. We should not be losing this game.’  

“We just needed to find that energy, especially when we’re home. We got to take pride that we’re home and we can’t be losing.”