Clara Strack poured in 28 points and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 18 Kentucky obliterated No. 14 Ole Miss, 74-57, on Sunday at Historic Memorial Coliseum, completing a historic regular season achievement not seen in Lexington in more than four decades.
The Wildcats (20-7, 7-6 SEC) became the first Kentucky team since 1982-83 to defeat three AP Top 15 opponents in the regular season. That’s 43 years of waiting for a season like this one.
Kenny Brooks’ Blueprint Takes Shape in Lexington
The second-quarter blitz told the entire story. Kentucky ripped off a 19-0 run that buried the Rebels (20-6, 7-4 SEC) and turned what could have been a tense top-25 matchup into a coronation. Ole Miss went scoreless from the field for most of that stretch as the Wildcats built a 39-15 advantage that the visitors never recovered from.
Tonie Morgan orchestrated the offense with 14 points and nine assists, while Asia Boone knocked down shots from deep to finish with 15 points. The floor spacing from Boone and Amelia Hassett unlocked everything else for a Kentucky offense that shot over 50%.
“When those two are making shots, we’re a pretty tough team to guard because it opens up things for her, and it opens up the lane for Tonie,” Brooks said after the game, referencing how perimeter shooting creates driving lanes for Morgan and post opportunities for Strack.
Kentucky’s defense was suffocating. The Wildcats held Ole Miss to 27.1% shooting, their best field goal percentage defense against an SEC opponent this season. Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss’s leading scorer who entered averaging nearly 20 points per game, was neutralized by the length and physicality Kentucky threw at her.
This was also Kentucky’s first home win over Ole Miss since January 2017. Nine years of frustration, erased in one afternoon.
“I didn’t like where we were, but I was excited about where we were going to go,” Brooks said of the stretch when Kentucky dropped several games during forward Teonni Key’s absence. “And these kids stepped up; they locked in, and they never wavered.”
Strack Deserves a Seat at the NPOY Table
Lost in the noise of the national player of the year conversation dominated by names like Sarah Strong, Hannah Hidalgo, and Mikayla Blakes sits a 6-foot-5 center from Buffalo, New York, who has been historically productive.
Strack, who won SEC Defensive Player of the Year last season, is the only player in Division I averaging at least 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game this season. She’s on the Wooden Award Late Midseason Top 20 Watch List. She’s just a few blocks away from breaking her own single-season program record of 73 that she set as a sophomore.
Sunday was the latest evidence of her dominance. When asked about battling Ole Miss’s physical post players, Strack shrugged it off with the nonchalance of someone who has answered this question all season.
“Every team in SEC is physical. I don’t think there’s a team that’s not,” Strack said. “I’m obviously not as strong as other people, but I have length so I can get around people.”
That length is precisely what makes her special. She alters shots without fouling. She passes out of double teams like a point guard. She’s become arguably the most complete center in the sport, and she’s doing it in the best women’s basketball conference in the country.
What This Win Means for Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament Résumé
Brooks inherited a program that hadn’t sniffed consistent top-25 relevance in years. Now Kentucky has wins over three top-15 teams, a centerpiece player demanding national attention, and the belief that comes from knowing they can beat anybody in front of their home crowd.
The Wildcats visit Vanderbilt next Sunday before closing the regular season at Auburn and against No. 3 South Carolina at home. The path to a strong NCAA Tournament seed runs through the SEC gauntlet, but Sunday proved Kentucky can handle the pressure when the lights are brightest.