Kentucky women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks stars on pace for history during strong season start
Head Coach Kenny Brooks started his first season with the Wildcats with a 7-0 record, bringing along Clara Strack and Georgia Amoore from Virginia Tech and recruiting Teonni Key in the offseason, a player and family he’s had a long-lasting relationship with.
Strack, the Wildcats’ leading scorer, is coming off of two dominant performances during the Music City Classic, dropping 24 points and 10 rebounds on Arizona State and scoring a season-high 25 points against No. 19 Illinois along with her 15 rebounds.
She earned the MVP award for the tournament and was also one of five players to be named as an Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week.
“What I didn’t know coming in is how hungry she was gonna be,” Brooks said after the Illinois win. “There’s a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. She had 25 (points) and 15 (rebounds), but she’s anchoring our defense.”
Amoore not only leads the SEC in assists per game with 8.3 a night, but she leads the entire nation. Against Arizona State, Amoore hit Strack for a 3-pointer to tally her 700th career assist.
She currently ranks 88th on the all-time career assist leaders list with 714 assists. If she maintains her average, Amoore is likely to crack within the top 40 before her tenure at the University of Kentucky is over.
Shantia Owens, who dished out a total of 206 assists for the Wildcats in the 1998-99 season, may be dethroned as the all-time assist leader by Amoore. Amoore is on pace for 217 assists based solely on the regular season.
Key is currently averaging 3.6 blocks per game, leading the SEC and ranking third in the nation. If she continues to block shots like she has been on a nightly basis, she will hold the crown as one of the best shot blockers in Kentucky women’s basketball history.
Key, for reference, has 25 blocks having played only seven games. Victoria Dunlap holds the single-season block record for Kentucky, sending back 66 shots in the 2009-10 season. Key is on pace to double that.
”I’m starting to believe in our defense,” said Brooks. “That was a big question mark going in and we knew we didn’t have a lot of foot speed other than Georgia but we have length.”
Although they haven’t faced a conference opponent yet and have played their fair share of quadrant-four opponents, Strack, Key, and Amoore were still the leaders on-court against No. 18 Louisville and No. 19 Illinois.
The star trio will have yet another proving ground against the No. 16 North Carolina Tar Heels on Dec. 5 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge. The game is set to tip off at 5 p.m. and will be aired live on ESPN2.
“We’re excited,” said Strack. “That’s another big game for us, it’s another statement game for us so I think we’re excited to keep this one rolling into that one.”
