Kentucky Wildcats at West Virginia Mountaineers

Key and Strack help Kentucky women beat West Virginia 74-73 to secure Sweet 16 trip

No. 5 seed Kentucky (25-10) will meet top-seeded and Southeastern Conference rival Texas on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. Kentucky will make its seventh trip to the regional semifinals in program history and its first since 2016.

Kentucky second-year coach Kenny Brooks wants to savor this win first before turning his attention to the Longhorns.

“To do this in two years is pretty remarkable," he said. "So heck yeah I’m going to step back and smell the roses and enjoy this.”

No. 4 seed West Virginia (28-7) nearly stormed back from a double-digit deficit. Sydney Shaw scored 11 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter and two Jordan Harrison free throws with 1:20 left brought the Mountaineers within 72-71. But West Virginia never retook the lead.

Key said Kentucky has been in enough nail-biters under Brooks that the players have learned to handle those challenges.

“Basketball is a game of runs, especially in March and in this environment," she said.

West Virginia had the “extra fuel” of playing at home, "I think us just staying composed and staying together was the main focus,” Key said.

Strack, who earned honorable mention honors on The Associated Press All-America team, had her 16th double-double of the season, and Key her seventh.

Led by Strack, Kentucky scored the first nine points of the third quarter to break open a tie game and take the lead for good. She had eight rebounds, four points, two assists, a block and a steal in the period and Kentucky built its largest lead, 62-48.

“She’s an All-American for a reason," said West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg. "She’s a matchup problem. She’s perfected her craft, for sure.”

The Mountaineers were trying to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time since its only trip in 1992, when West Virginia earned a first-round bye and needed just one win in a field of 48 teams to get there.

Gia Cooke added 23 points and Kierra Wheeler had 16 for West Virginia, which saw its seven-game winning streak snapped.

The taller Wildcats held a 39-23 rebounding advantage and withstood both West Virginia’s trapping defense and a noisy crowd of nearly 13,000 that favored the host Mountaineers.

“That was a fun game, fun atmosphere,” said Kentucky's Tonie Morgan, who finished with 15 points. “You want to play tough teams like that because you've played them all year, so why change it up now?”

Close endings The win broke a four-game losing streak for Kentucky in the second round and came exactly one year after the Wildcats lost 80-79 to Kansas State on their home court with a Sweet 16 trip on the line.

Monday's game ended in similar fashion as that one.

A year ago, Kentucky star Georgia Amoore missed a floating layup that danced around the rim and fell off at the buzzer. On Monday, Cooke took an inbounds pass with eight seconds left, moved to her left and missed a 12-foot jumper that rimmed in and out.

“Basketball is such a beautiful sport. It's a crazy sport,” Brooks said.

West Virginia's Shaw said she thought Cooke did a great job finding open space for the nail-biting attempt.

“I think everybody thought that shot was going in," Shaw said. “Nine times out of 10, that shot's going in. This was that one out of 10.”

Up next Kentucky is 0-4 all time against Texas, losing once in each of the past two seasons. The Longhorns won at home 64-53 on Feb. 9. The Longhorns won both of their tournament games by 42 points and are in the Sweet 16 for the third straight season.

This story has been corrected to show that Kentucky and Texas played once earlier this year, not twice.

How can I watch Wildcats vs. Mountaineers?

• TV Channel: Wildcats vs Mountaineers 2021 College Basketball, week , is broadcasted on ESPN2.
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Location: Morgantown, WV
Attendance: 12,830 | Capacity: