The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team opened fast and breezed to a 76-35 win over the outmatched Boilermakers of Purdue University on Tuesday, November 18th. The beginning of the contest was quite a contrast from UK’s last game, a comfortable victory over Marshall. Against the Thundering Herd, the score was 9-6 after one quarter of play. On Tuesday, UK hit their first three shots, jumped out to a 7-0 lead and the woes of the Marshall game were rapidly put to rest.
“I think learning from our slow start at Marshall and telling ourselves to not let that happen again because if you can get the energy and the shots falling early, it just snowballs and continues to keep building (throughout) the game,” UK’s Clara Strack commented. Strack had another double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. It marked her fourth straight game with a double-double. In addition, Strack added five blocks. One block in the first quarter caused a huge roar from the majority of the 4,625 in attendance at Historic Memorial Coliseum. Straack swatted a shot by Purdue’s Tara Daye and the ball caromed to teammate Amelia Hassett, who then led a fast break.
Purdue coach, Katie Gearlds, stated that Strack is “unguardable.” Brooks disputed that statement by jokingly saying, “I don’t know about unguardable, I mean I can guard her...but it’s pretty impressive,” Brooks stated. “(On a specific shot), one of the refs ran by (me) and said ‘that (shot) was nasty’ and it was and she’s getting it down pat and understanding where to get to her spots. Brooks also said that Strack was the “best passer in the nation.”
Jordan Obi also poured in 17 points to go along with her eight rebounds. Obi, a graduate student, who transferred this season from the University of Pennsylvania, was named last year to the first team all Ivy League squad. Obi, mainly was a post player for the Quakers and she said that she is striving to take more three point shots. “I’m trying to expand my game more because I’m not known for being a shooter,” Obi remarked.
Coach Gearlds was most impressed with Obi. “She comes out and wants to play bully ball. She’s like Charles Barkley but she also shoots it very confidently.”
Gearlds knew that UK’s length was going to be a major problem. “We worked all week on their length, so we knew what we were going up against. We tried to stick to the game plan, looking for our shooters and looking for our kick-outs. They were big around the rim and we knew we weren’t going to finish over them and we knew that they would block shots,” Geralds pointed out. UK finished the game with 10 blocked shots as opposed to only two blocks from Penn.
When asked about Purdue consistently running down the shot clock until it almost expired, Geralds said that it was not by design. “It was mainly their length even though we tried to work both sides of the floor. We were pretty intentional about getting the ball inside but we just didn’t hit any of those inside shots.”
The highlight of the post-game press conference was the joy on Coach Brooks face as he was finally able to talk about three new stellar UK recruits. “We are very excited about this recruiting class. The landscape of recruiting is ever changing and one of the reason I came here was to be able to be involved with the players like the three we have just signed. I think these three young ladies will definitely help us.”
Those three young ladies are Emily McDonald, Maddyn Greenway, and Savvy Swords. McDonald is a native of Buffalo, New York and who is a four star, six-foot guard. “I look forward to growing as a player and as a person under Coach Brooks. I’m excited to call Big Blue Nation home and be a part of the Kentucky family,” McDonald said.
Greenway is a 5 foot 8 inch guard who hails from Wayzata, Minnesota. Greenway has been named an All-State and All-Conference Player of the Year, each year since she was in the seventh grade. Brooks exclaimed, “Maddyn will be a tremendous addition to our program. She has the potential of being one of the best guards to play at UK and she will compete immediately.”
Swords is 6 feet and 1 inch from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada and is ranked as the number 18 overall recruit according to ESPN. “Savvy is a tough, skilled forward who will contribute to our team immediately. She’s a great rebounder, shooter and has a high basketball IQ.”
Kentucky now goes on the road to face in-state rival Louisville on Saturday, November 22nd.
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