Kentucky women overcome cold-shooting night vs. Bellarmine, take 4-0 record to Bahamas

The University of Kentucky women’s basketball team made the most of its warm-up phase to the 2022-23 season.

Now the Wildcats get to find out if they’re prepared for some serious heat.

Blair Green scored 15 points, Jada Walker 14 and Robyn Benton 11 as Kentucky improved to 4-0 with a cold-shooting 63-45 victory over in-state rival Bellarmine in Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night.

Next week for Kentucky brings a trip to the Bahamas, where the temperatures will be in the 80s and the competition represents a step up in class.

The Wildcats will face 14th-ranked Virginia Tech (3-0) on Monday afternoon in Nassau in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship. Then comes a potentially more manageable game Wednesday evening against a traditionally strong Dayton program that’s off to an uncharacteristically slow start this season (0-4).

“We’re playing a top-25 team in the Bahamas, so that will show us where we are,” Green said. “We want to let our defense turn to offense and get easy things in transition. I think it’s going to be a really good game. I think we should all be excited and confident. We’re not ranked and we believe that we should be, so I think this is a great opportunity to show what we are about.”

Kentucky has won its first four games by an average of 18.25 points with victories over Radford, Morehead State, Coastal Carolina and now Bellarmine.

Kentucky opened Thursday night’s game by missing eight of its first nine field-goal attempts and led Bellarmine only 12-9 after one period. UK’s early shooting struggles included a miss on a wide-open breakaway layup and a corner three-point attempt off the side of the backboard.

The Wildcats finally started cooking in the second quarter, making 11 of 16 shots, outscoring the Knights 25-8 and essentially putting the game away by building a 37-17 lead at halftime. Kentucky extended its lead to its largest at 48-24 with 6:49 left in the third quarter.

Outside the second quarter, UK made just 10 of 51 field-goal attempts in the game, finishing 21-of-67 for 31.3 percent. From three-point range, the Cats knocked down just three of 24 attempts (12.5 percent).

Defense was again Kentucky’s calling card. UK forced 27 Bellarmine turnovers and generated 24 points off those miscues. UK limited the Knights (0-3) to 16-for-51 shooting from the field (31.4 percent) and only two makes in nine three-point tries (22.2 percent).

Walker keyed the Kentucky defense with five steals.

For the season, UK has forced an average of 26.5 turnovers per game and limited opponents to 37.6 percent shooting.

“Well, I think early we let our offense affect our defense by missing open three-pointers that we’re capable of hitting,” Kentucky Coach Kyra Elzy said after the win. “We missed some layups and I thought we got really defeated after that. I thought we’d try to rally in the second quarter. But overall, our shots didn’t fall and that will happen. I just told them that we have to hang our hats on the defensive end and bring the energy until we get going offensively.”

In Bellarmine, UK faced its second of four in-state opponents this season. The Wildcats previously defeated Morehead State, and has games in the weeks ahead against sixth-ranked Louisville (Dec. 11) and Murray State (Dec. 16).

Kentucky improved to 7-0 all-time against the Knights in the first meeting of the schools since 1976.

For Bellarmine, Thursday night’s game was the first of seven this season against in-state foes, with dates still to come against Simmons (Dec. 1), Morehead State (Dec. 4), Louisville (Dec. 14), Murray State (Dec. 20) and Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 11 and 14).

Kentucky’s record is perfect, but Elzy knows there’s work to do as the Wildcats head for the tropics.

“It’s going to be a fun time, but our approach is a business trip,” the UK coach said. “I want them to have fun, so there’s a fine line and balance because they’re like, ‘Oh we have to study in the Bahamas?’ And I was like, ‘Yes you’re still in school.’ You can put your bikini on and study outside, but you’re going to study. You want them to have fun. It’s a trip that they can make memories with, but also we are there for business as well.”

UK’s next game

Kentucky vs. No. 14 Virginia Tech

What: Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo Championship

Where: Nassau, Bahamas

When: Noon Monday

TV: FloHoops.com (online only)

Records: Kentucky 4-0, Virginia Tech 3-0

Series: Tied 1-1

Last meeting: Virginia Tech won 75-66 on Feb. 19, 1989, at Blacksburg, Va.

This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 9:51 PM.