International Flavor of Wildcats will be Obvious During Season

Amelia Hassett is one of the international players on the Kentucky roster who believes the team will share the ball more because of its international influence. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky has a definite international blend on its women’s basketball team led by All-American guard Georgia Amoore of Australia along with Clara Silva of Portugal, Tanah Becker of Canada, Dominka Paurova of the Czech Republic and Amelia Hassett of Australia.

“I definitely see us sharing the ball a lot because of our backgrounds,” Hassett, a junior forward, said. “Obviously, we have girls on our team who can just get down the court and just score. But yeah, I definitely think that our playing style is a lot about working together.”

Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks believes the increased popularity of women’s basketball in recent years has made the sport more attractive for international players to come to the United States for higher opportunities.

“It worked extremely well for us at the Virginia Tech level. Obviously Georgia was someone we had. We had a kid, Matilda Ekh, last year who was a tremendous player. It really fits our system. We have a number this year. They fit our system, the way we play,” Brooks said. “The way we play is similar to international basketball. They come in and fit in very seamlessly.

“We won’t go totally to it, but it will be a good mixture. It’s something that we definitely scour the world to see if there are great players that will fit our system. If it is, we definitely welcome it.

Amoore believes European players in general do not feel as entitled because they did not grow up with as many opportunities as most American players had.

“I’d say it helps us obviously. We kind of get in there and do not get greedy. We are just kind of being humble and do our thing and play your role to the best of your ability and look for ways to just help the team win.

“We are serious on the court but Georgia having that joy she does helps us all. You can see how much she loves basketball and it makes you realize you can also play that hard while you are still having fun.”

Hassett spent two years at Eastern Florida State College where she was a junior college All-American but knows coach Kenny Brooks is expecting a lot from her.

“That transition to Division I obviously has been a little bit harder but having the support around me with the coaching staff has been very helpful and I really like what we have here,” Hassett said.