LOUISVILLE — A “monster” class accomplished a monster feat Sunday.
The 2008 version of the girls Kentucky All-Stars drilled Indiana 101-62, completing a rare sweep of the Hoosiers in the annual border series.
“We've been hearing since we were freshmen — maybe even in the eighth grade — that the class of '08 was going to be a monster class,” Kentucky Miss Basketball Tia Gibbs said. “We've lived up to it and proved tonight that we're the best class in Kentucky history.”
The proof is in the numbers.
At Louisville Gardens on Sunday, Kentucky won by its largest margin in the history of the series. Its 101 points was the most-ever scored by a team from the Bluegrass.
“We're thrilled with the history we made today,” Coach Sally Zimmerman said of her group, which swept Indiana for the first time since 1991.
When asked if this was the best Kentucky All-Star team ever, she smiled.
“Of course it is,” she said. “There's no doubt.”
They looked like the best ever out of the gate, cruising to an 18-0 lead and then a 22-4 advantage before Indiana had even scored its first field goal, a Lindsay Enterline three-pointer more than eight minutes into the game.
“It feels good,” Louisville signee Monique Reid said of making that kind of early run. “You get pumped and stay pumped. I know I was real enthusiastic the whole game, clapping and yelling. You stay pumped.”
They cut it to 24-11 before Kentucky used another huge 14-0 run to extend its lead. Gibbs and Reid had 10 points apiece at the break.
The Hoosiers missed their first 14 shots and finished the first half shooting 13.9 percent and trailing 45-19.
Kentucky opened the second half with a 18-4 run.
Five Kentucky girls finished in double figures, with Reid leading the way with 16 points and five rebounds.
Fellow Louisville signee Janae Howard added 15 points.
The Vanderbilt-bound Gibbs had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.
“Tia Gibbs wears No. 1 on her jersey for a reason,” Zimmerman said. “I saw it all week. She's a big reason why we made history.”
Tacarra Hayes added 11. Ceira Ricketts, who is bound for Arkansas, had 10 points and five rebounds.
“It's truly an all-star team,” Gibbs said. “We're a team full of stars, but we're a team first.”
Kentucky led by as many as 44 points in the second half and outrebounded Indiana 51-33.
Lauren Wombles of South Laurel had a team-high seven boards to go with her nine points.
Wombles hit perhaps the most anticipated shot of the day, making a spin move and barely getting the game's final shot off to eclipse the century mark.
“That's a heck of a quick team,” Indiana Coach Kem Zolman said. “It's difficult to get yourself into a flow momentum-wise when a team has that kind of speed.”
Quick Kentucky scored 24 fast-break points to just four for the Hoosiers.
Kentucky was hot from three-point range as well, making six of its nine attempts in the first half and going 9-for-14 for the game.
And the team spread it around, with seven different girls hitting at least one three-pointer.
“For the game, they shot 64 percent from three-point land,” Zolman said. “It'd be hard to do that in a game of H-O-R-S-E.”
Of Indiana's 62 points, 23 came from the free-throw line.
The Hoosiers made just 22.7 percent of their shots from the field.
Indiana Miss Basketball Brittany Rayburn missed her first 10 shots of the game and didn't make her first basket until six minutes remained in the game.
The Purdue signee made two of her 15 shots and all eight of her free-throw attempts to lead the Hoosiers with 12 points.
“It's not the way we wanted to go out,” a tearful Rayburn said. “It's tough to go out like this.”
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