Women’s Basketball: Three takeaways from Vanderbilt’s gritty 84-83 road win over Kentucky – The Vanderbilt Hustler

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Men’s Basketball: Vanderbilt dominates Kentucky, wins 80-55 in Memorial Gymnasium
Men’s Basketball: Previewing Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky
No.7 Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball (22-2, 7-2 SEC) defeated No. 16 Kentucky (18-6, 5-4 SEC) on the road on Thursday evening, 84-83. The ‘Dores headed into the contest after a win over Florida at home earlier in the week but were still trying to find their groove on the road — with their only losses on the season coming on the road against South Carolina and Ole Miss.  
Although Vanderbilt led Kentucky for most of the first half, the Wildcats clawed their way back with a 13-2 run over the last four minutes of the first period to take a 38-34 lead at halftime. The Commodores would not let deficit defeat them, though, as they came back to eventually leave Lexington with a 1-point win. Mikayla Blakes was, as she has been all season, outstanding for the Commodores. She finished with 37 total points, with 26 of those coming in the second half. But the win was a complete team effort; it showed that Vanderbilt has the ability to win close games on the road in the SEC over ranked opponents and gave a feel that was eerily reminiscent of late March.
“We’ve been battle tested on the road the past week [and] we didn’t have the result we wanted to,” Blakes said postgame. “In this one we said we’re going to come together and we’re going to win.” 
With all that said, let’s take a look at the difference-makers in the contest.  
Headed into the matchup, each side possessed one of the most potent offenses in both the SEC and the nation. Many expected a 3-point shootout, and that is exactly what this game offered.  
Kentucky was hitting its shots from beyond the 3-point line early, with Amelia Hassett sinking her first shot of the game and then adding another five minutes later. While Justine Pissott missed her first shot from behind the arc for the Black and Gold, she made her second, then Aga Makurat added another. Kentucky stayed above .500 with a big 3-pointer from Clara Strack to silence a 13-2 Commodore run. The first quarter would end with the teams taking a combined 11 3-pointers and there was no indication of either side slowing down. 
Vanderbilt heavily outshot Kentucky from deep in the second quarter of play, adding another 10 shots from deep to its total. However, the Commodores made just two of those shots; the first coming from Blakes on a turnover and then another from Pissott before a timeout from Kentucky. While the Wildcats shot just four 3-pointers in the second quarter, they made three of them. Two of those came from Asia Boone in the last two minutes and were able to separate the Wildcats from the Commodores at halftime.  
Although both sides were relatively quiet from beyond the arc compared to the first half, Boone would hit another big 3-ball when it mattered. The junior guard sank a shot to put Kentucky up by 9 points with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. Then it was Blakes’s turn for a big 3-pointer; the sophomore hit a contested shot on an offensive reset to put her team on top. The New Jersey native would continue to pour it on, hitting two shots from the top of the key in the span of 30 seconds and extending the ‘Dores lead to 10. Then, she did it again, hitting a 3-pointer wide open from the top with the shot clock running down and her team holding just a two-point lead. That string of three pointers from Blakes proved to be the difference-maker down the stretch when Vanderbilt couldn’t seem to stop Kentucky on the inside with time winding down.
Vanderbilt’s defense is, when it is at its best, designed to disrupt ball carriers and force its opponents into bad decisions. That is exactly what it did against the Wildcats, and it was a complete difference-maker in the game. Through the first half of the game, the Wildcats coughed up 12 turnovers that resulted in 11 Commodore points. Leading the Black and Gold with steals was none other than Blakes, who recorded four, while the team tallied 10 steals in total. 
After Kentucky adjusted to account for Vanderbilt’s defensive scheme, the Commodores would lay off on the aggressive press for the majority of the third quarter. It reinstated the traps and press, though, when they found themselves down by 9 points. This did Vanderbilt a favor, leading to 4 quick points — one of which was off a steal from Blakes — to cut the deficit to 6. The Black and Gold kept the pressure on in the fourth quarter, forcing the Wildcats into eight second-half turnovers and in turn, gaining 14 points on those turnovers. In turn, the ‘Dores turned over the ball to Kentucky just five times, resulting in 3 points for the Wildcats. This difference in both turnovers and points off turnovers is stark, and with the game coming down to just 1 point, it is hard to ignore that these turnovers affected the game. 
As is expected of a top 15 matchup in the SEC, the game was extremely physical. While Vanderbilt allowed the physicality to frustrate it during the third quarter — most notably where Blakes got away with an aggressive hand to the face on Strack — it battled through it in the fourth. Aubrey Galvan, though undersized against Kentucky’s length, made a tough and-one layup to put Kentucky’s star point guard Tonie Morgan in foul trouble.  
While Blakes was stripped of the ball on consecutive possessions and then fouled hard on the third, she was able to break the scoring drought by making the free throws. On the next possession, Washington made a tough layup amongst two of Kentucky’s players. With just 41 seconds remaining on the clock, Blakes went to the free throw line and missed her first shot while making her second to put the ‘Dores up by three. Then, with 19 seconds left, it was Galvan’s turn to go to the line as the Kentucky gymnasium roared with cheers. She sank both of them and did it again just seconds later, with the game on the line, and gave her team a gritty road win over a top 20 team. 
The Commodores will return home for a matchup with No. 11 Oklahoma on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. CST.  
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