‘What the heck do you do?’ Clara Strack sends UK to SEC Tournament quarters
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- Clara Strack had 33 points, five 3s and three blocks to lift Kentucky past Georgia.
- Teonni Key posted a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double with an assist and a block.
- Kentucky advances to SEC quarterfinals and faces South Carolina in Friday’s noon rematch.
With her career-high tying 33 points against No. 8 seed Georgia in the second round of the SEC Tournament, Kentucky’s Clara Strack became the first player this century to record at least 30 points, five 3-pointers and 3 blocks in any women’s regulation conference tournament game — regardless of league.
Strack led No. 9 seed UK to a 76-61 victory over the Bulldogs while shooting 12 of 22 from the field — including a career-best five 3-pointers — and recording eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and three blocks.
It was business as usual for Kenny Brooks’ star center, whose point total also tied with Rhyne Howard for the third-most by a Kentucky player in an SEC tournament game. But it was in her path to 33 points that Strack showed another dimension of her game.
The junior had been told by Brooks before that she “was going to make five (3-pointers) one day” in a single game, and she knew from “the first play of the game,” that her best plan of attack was to step outside her comfort zone.
“I noticed they were really, like, in the paint on me, so I shot it,” Strack said. “It went in, and I just kept shooting it. Coach Brooks has a lot of confidence in my 3. ...He was right.”
Strack made a career-high three 3-pointers in the team’s regular-season wins over Florida and Missouri, but she isn’t typically the go-to beyond the arc. That title is shared by junior guard Asia Boone and senior forward Amelia Hassett, who, after both surpassing Howard’s single-season 3-point record yesterday, will trade the honor until the season ends.
Boone and Hassett combined to shoot 9 of 17 from long range Wednesday in Kentucky’s 30-point rout of No. 16 seed Arkansas. Against the Bulldogs on Thursday? The pair combined for a single 3-pointer in seven attempts, the lone make coming from Hassett with just under three minutes to play in the game.
Somebody else had to step up, what with the 3-pointer serving as an integral part of the Brooks system at its best.
“I’ve been saying it the whole year. I said (Strack’s) going to make four or five 3s in a game this year,” Brooks said. “I shoot with her every day. We can’t bet, but if we had to and I were to bet on somebody winning the shooting contest, it’s her. She shoots it just as well as Amelia and Asia. It’s just a matter of learning how to shoot them in a game. Today will go a long way for that, because if Clara Strack is stepping out and hitting threes like that, what the heck do you do? Because now she goes inside, it opens up for a lot of different people.”
In her second season with the Wildcats, Strack has worked her way into elite company; with her performance against the Bulldogs, she became just the second-ever player with at least 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 150 blocks, 125 assists and 50 steals in their first two seasons with an SEC program. She joins Tennessee great Candace Parker in that distinction.
Despite its convincing win in the SEC Tournament opener, Kentucky’s second-round fate was far from sealed.
Georgia beat Kentucky 72-67 at Memorial Coliseum during the regular season, and Strack’s performance in that Jan. 24 loss was uncharacteristic; the center dealt with foul trouble and finished with just nine points, eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 28 minutes on the floor.
Hassett and Jordan Obi, both starters, each fouled out of that game, Teonni Key was absent for a sixth straight contest due to a dislocated elbow, and Kentucky strung together a three-game skid — the longest so far under Brooks.
Thursday’s game granted an opportunity for redemption for Strack and her teammates, and UK flipped the script immediately. Kentucky — which led Georgia for only two minutes in the regular season loss — paced the Bulldogs for 33 minutes in Greenville, South Carolina, to book a return trip to the quarterfinals.
As was the case with her Wednesday performance, Key played an efficient game against the Bulldogs. After not missing a field-goal attempt against the Razorbacks, Key remained perfect from the field until the second half against Georgia.
The senior forward finished with a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double and added an assist and a block. Key shot 6 of 10 from the field.
“Teonni is obviously a super important part of our team,” Strack said. “She had a double-double, 12 rebounds. That in itself, it just helps us so much. Her energy, her effort throughout the whole game. She always goes 100%. So I think that’s something that we really missed without her, obviously. Like I said, she’s one of the most important pieces of our team. So, I mean, just having her presence on the court, even if it’s not scoring or whatever, whatever she does, it’s really important to have her.”
Point guard Tonie Morgan joined Strack and Key in double-figure scoring, finishing with 14 points and seven assists.
Kentucky will turn the page to Friday’s noon EST rematch with South Carolina for a spot in Saturday’s SEC Tournament semifinal. The Gamecocks beat UK 60-56 at Memorial Coliseum in Sunday’s regular-season finale.
