Harlan County’s Blair Green enjoys career night as No. 9 Kentucky improves to 5-0
Led by a steady veteran who put together a career night, the University of Kentucky women’s basketball team made a strong case it could be one of the best squads in the country this year. Fresh off entering the top 10 of The Associated Press Top 25 poll, the ninth-ranked Wildcats jumped all over Marshall and went on to dominate the Thundering Herd, 79-45, in Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday.
Junior guard Blair Green scored a career-high 17 points, finishing off a handful of fast breaks at the basket and knocking down several mid-range jumpers.
Green’s previous career high was 13, which she reached once as a freshman and once as a sophomore. During her first two seasons in Lexington, the Harlan County native flashed good scoring ability but often suffered from inconsistent shooting. On Wednesday, she knocked down eight of 13 shots from the field.
UK interim head coach Kyra Elzy has challenged Green this season to expand her offensive repertoire, and some new wrinkles emerged against the Herd.
“Blair was huge tonight, so happy for her just to see her hard work pay off,” Elzy said. “Blair has really bought into her role. A year ago she was really set on how she was supposed to score. It was supposed to look a certain way. And we really challenged her to let her know that she can score in a variety of ways.
“As you got to see ... she ran in transition, she was so active defensively. ... She scored points off her defense. She hit open shots. It was a great night for Blair, we hope to see more of that.”
Elzy returned to the sideline Wednesday after missing Sunday’s game against No. 13 Indiana because of health issues unrelated to COVID-19. Associate head coach Niya Butts led the Wildcats against Indiana as they rallied from a 14-point deficit for a thrilling 72-68 victory over the Hoosiers.
Elzy quickly made her presence felt against Marshall (1-1). After the Thundering Herd whittled a 15-point UK lead down to eight, Elzy called a timeout to rally her troops. The Wildcats (5-0) responded with a flurry, outscoring Marshall 7-0 over the final 59 seconds of the first half to take a 41-26 lead into the locker room. The run was keyed by Green, who knocked down a fadeaway jumper at the elbow then snagged a steal and finished off the fast break with a layup.
Green said Elzy got the Cats back on track.
“She pretty much just told us that ‘we’re not playing Kentucky defense, we’re not playing the way that we’re supposed to play,’” Green said. “And we really took that to heart and we decided to come back out with more intensity because we should not be within eight points of that team. So, I think that we showed up.”
Marshall Coach Tony Kemper said UK presented several problems for the Herd.
“Obviously Kentucky is a talented team, they’ve got some advantages on us that we struggled with,” Kemper said. “We couldn’t handle their pressure in the first half.
“That’s a good basketball team. They can cause some problems that not everyone we play can ... That’s the No. 9 team in the country, so we expected to have a difficult time. I think we should have played better, but there’s gonna be a couple other teams that get beat in here.”
After streaky shooting in her first couple games back after a two-game suspension to begin the season, junior guard Rhyne Howard looked much more comfortable against the Thundering Herd. She nailed a three-pointer on the game’s first possession and sank another trey two minutes later. A three-pointer from Green put the Wildcats ahead 13-0 and prompted a Marshall timeout.
Howard finished with 13 points, hitting five of 11 shots from the field, including three of seven three-pointers. She also dished out five assists, multiple times finding Green for good looks.
“It was great seeing Blair come out like that,” Howard said. “Especially when I’m looking to give it to her every time because she’s got the hot hand, and just seeing that she can capitalize on it and make good plays is just great.”
Sophomore forward Dre’una Edwards continued her streak of strong performances for the Cats. She scored 13 points — hitting six of seven shots — and tied Howard for the game-high with five assists. Edwards matched freshman forward Nyah Leveretter for a game-leading eight rebounds. That ended Edwards’ three-game double-double streak. Leveretter also chipped in four points.
All 11 Wildcats who played Wednesday scored and combined for 20 assists.
Olivia Owens drew the first start of her UK career against the Thundering Herd. The 6-foot-4 sophomore center, who transferred from Maryland and was granted immediate eligibility for the Cats about a month before the season began, replaced senior forward KeKe McKinney in the starting lineup. McKinney sat out because of a shoulder injury she sustained during a fall to the floor in the Indiana game. Elzy characterized McKinney’s status as “day to day.”
Owens scored UK’s second basket of the game on a layup she kissed high off the glass. Owens finished with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting and added five rebounds.
The Wildcats held Marshall leading scorer Savannah Wheeler to nine points. The former Boyd County High School star who was 2019 Kentucky Miss Basketball hit just two of 10 shots and missed all five of her three-point attempts.
UK dominated Marshall on the boards, 40-26, and outscored the Herd in the paint, 40-18. The Wildcats shot 54 percent while holding Marshall to 30 percent and forcing 17 turnovers.
Next up for the Wildcats is a meeting with Samford in Memorial Coliseum on Sunday at 2 p.m. Last season, UK dominated Samford, 79-49, in Lexington as Howard scored a then-career high 30 points.
Next game
Samford at No. 9 Kentucky
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Live video broadcast: SEC Network Plus (online only)
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 9:08 PM.
