Kentucky defeats Louisville 72-62 in 61st edition of the Battle of the Bluegrass

by: Phoenix Stevens4 hours agoPStevensKSR

kentucky-louisville-in-61st-edition-of-the-battle-of-the-bluegrass — Photo of Kentucky head coach Kenny Brooks by Bryce Stevenson | Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky vs. Louisville. It’s one of the best rivalries in college basketball, and that’s the case on the women’s side two. Both programs have a history of excellence, and they’re both two teams with very high expectations for this season. Kentucky has held onto the bragging rights since last year’s overtime win over the Cardinals, but that would be put on the line on Saturday.

For the second year in a row, however, Kentucky defeated Louisville 72-62 to move to 7-0 on the year and 36-25 in the all-time series against the dirty birds.

As expected, this was a back and forth affair right out of the gate. Kentucky built up a nice 11-2 lead, but the Cardinals weren’t going to go down without a fight. They proceeded to go on a 10-0 run toward the end of the first quarter, and after trading some buckets to end the period, Kentucky led 19-18.

Louisville went on a 6-0 run early in the second quarter, and it almost started to look like they were going to take firm control of the game, but Kenny Brooks‘ squad responded with their own 6-0 run. A huge part of that was Tonie Morgan, who was able to blow by Louisville’s guards to get good looks down low, whether it be layups or pull-up jumpers from about 10-12 feet out. At the half, Kentucky held a 37-35 lead.

Kentucky went on a 20-6 run on the third quarter — the transition game clearly working in the Cats favor. Teonni Key was a big part that offensive spark. She was already playing well defensively, but going through her in the post worked well. Through three, it was 57-41 Cats.

Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

It also helped that Brooks went small in the third quarter, running of Morgan, Asia Boone, Lexi Blue, Jordan Obi and Amelia Hassett. All of a sudden, Tajianna Roberts wasn’t blowing by everyone and all of Kentucky’s best shooters were on the floor.

The Cards started the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run, forcing Brooks to burn his first timeout of the game. Then, it was all Kentucky from there. Louisville is a good team, but today, Kentucky was better. L’s down. Cats on top. Go Big Blue.

Kentucky follows up this one with their toughest game of conference play. The Cats will head on down to San Juan to take on No. 9 Maryland in their first of two games in the Discover Puerto Rico Shootout. The Terps are currently 6-0 on the year and looking like one of the best teams in the country, but so is Kentucky.