She had to sit out last season. Sunday, her double-double powered another UK win.
If Sunday’s performance is any indication, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team has finally developed the dangerous post presence it so sorely lacked in recent years.
Sophomore forward Dre’una Edwards staged a coming-out party in Memorial Coliseum, leading the 11th-ranked Wildcats to a 70-50 victory over four-time defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Belmont.
Edwards, who transferred to Kentucky from Utah and sat out last season while recovering from a torn ACL after being voted Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, was dominant in the paint against the Bruins. She led the Wildcats with 27 points and 15 rebounds, helping UK (2-0) best Belmont (0-1) on the boards, 50-37. The Cats scored 50 points in the paint and Edwards hit 11 of 19 shots from the field.
Edwards credited a childhood spent competing with eight siblings for contributing to the development of her tough and rugged game, and she said this is just the tip of the iceberg.
“I used to play basketball with my brothers all the time and they always told me, ‘go hard all the time,’ ... I just have that ‘don’t stop’ mentality,” Edwards said on the SEC Network postgame broadcast. “I just feel like I’m a dog, regardless. You all haven’t seen the dog yet. It’s coming out, though.”
After playing limited minutes because of foul trouble in Wednesday’s season-opening win over Murray State, Edwards showed against Belmont why UK’s coaches were so eager to get the 6-foot-2 multi-talented big onto the floor. Edwards battled with Belmont’s post players, routinely muscling away rebounds and forcing the Bruins into difficult shots.
Edwards also flashed uncanny ball-handling skills, several times leading UK fast breaks after hitting the boards. Her versatility came as no surprise to UK interim head coach Kyra Elzy.
“We’ve been seeing this from Dre’, we knew how talented she is. She was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year for a reason,” Elzy told the media in a postgame video teleconference. “We were just so excited that you all got to see her play this well. Dre’ is very smart, has a high basketball IQ ... She will cause a problem for the opposing team(s).”
Edwards scored on back-to-back second-quarter possessions to push the Cats ahead, 24-15. Moments later, Blair Green hit UK’s first three-pointer of the game to make it 27-17. That broke an 0-for-10 Kentucky drought from the perimeter.
Edwards nailed a straightaway three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half and UK headed into the locker room with a 32-23 advantage. She scored on a nifty move in the post on UK’s first possession of the second half, then flushed home a rebound put-back next trip down the floor. Edwards came up with a steal and run-out layup late in the third quarter to send UK to the fourth with a 49-36 lead.
Looking ahead
Next up for UK is a trip to Kansas State for a meeting of Wildcats in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge. Tip-off is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST
Kansas State struggled against visiting Southern University for three quarters in its season opener on Sunday before pulling away for a 66-51 win. Last year, Kansas State went 16-13 overall and 10-8 in the Big 12, tying for fourth in the conference during the regular season.
The Wildcats from Manhattan, Kansas, are led by sophomore Ayoka Lee. The 6-foot-6 center was voted Big 12 Freshman of the Year and was named to the All-Big 12 First Team last season after averaging team-highs of 15.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game.
Return of Rhyne
Rhyne Howard is set to make her season debut against Kansas State. The preseason All-American and national player of the year candidate is eligible to return to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension that was announced about an hour prior to UK’s win over Murray State.
It will be interesting to see how Elzy structures the lineup with Howard ready to return. In its first two games, Kentucky’s starters were Patterson, Green, Edwards, KeKe McKinney and Emma King.
Senior forward Tatyana Wyatt will be eligible to return after serving the last of her three-game suspension at Kansas State.
Next game
No. 11 Kentucky at Kansas State
When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. EST
Radio: WBUL-FM 98.5
Live video broadcast: ESPN Plus (subscription required)
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 6:12 PM.
