LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Kentucky senior guard Georgia Amoore had a couple of things riding on a pair of free throws late on her home court on Friday.
The 4-seed Wildcats needed every point to avoid one of the biggest collapses in NCAA tournament history against 13-seed Liberty in the first round of the tournament. She also needed both shots to own a piece of school history.
Amoore split the difference. She made one of two and the Wildcats did just enough down the stretch to beat the Flames 79-78 for the team's first tournament win since 2021. Amoore's 34 points also matched the most by a Kentucky player in a tourney game, tying A'dia Mathies' total in 2013 against Dayton.
Amoore had no idea she was on the verge of history when she stepped to the line with seven seconds left in the game. She just knew the Wildcats (23-7) needed to meet the energy required for the big moment.
"Anything can happen," Amoore said after the game at Lexington's Memorial Coliseum.
Friday afternoon was on the verge of becoming a historic day for an entirely different reason. With 9:36 left in the game, Liberty trailed by 17 points. Had the Flames (26-7) overcome the deficit, it would have been the second-biggest fourth-quarter comeback in NCAA tournament history, per ESPN Research.
That was trimmed down to a point in the final minute. Had Liberty secured a defensive rebound, it had a shot at a go-ahead possession with roughly 23 seconds left. However, Kentucky's Amelia Hassett secured her own miss to start the free-throw parade that gave Amoore her share of the school record. She made three of four attempts to seal the win. All of them were needed considering Liberty's Emma Hess, who scored 17 points, banked in a miracle 3-pointer with :02 left.
First-year Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks was not thrilled with how the team played down the stretch, particularly in the paint, where Liberty won many of its one-on-one matchups. Liberty also pressed the issue in hopes of pulling off the upset.
"Then we were playing not to lose as opposed to win the basketball game," Brooks said. "You have to give them credit. They were the aggressors. When you're down like that you don't have much to lose. Might as well go all out."
At one point, Amoore seemed destined to shatter the school record and put up a truly special NCAA tournament performance. She scored 23 points in the first half on 9-of-13 shooting, including 5-of-6 on 3-point attempts.
But she and the rest of the Wildcats struggled to get a bucket in the fourth quarter. In the final frame, Kentucky missed 12 of its 17 shots. One of the few makes was a key midrange jumper by senior guard Dazia Lawrence, who finished with 16 points. Lawrence also had a corner 3-pointer at the end of the first half that gave Kentucky a 44-34 lead at the break.
"Just playing off Georgia, I know any time she comes off the screen, I need to go in the corner and rise up so I can be in those gaps, so she can find me and just knock the shot down," Lawrence said.
Amoore, a first-team All-SEC player and the conference's newcomer of the year, also had eight assists and played all 40 minutes. She scored or assisted on a combined 55 points, the sixth-highest total in a tournament game since 2019, according to ESPN Research. The only players with a higher number in that category are Iowa's Caitlin Clark and Oregon's Sabrina Ionescu.
Amoore and Lawrence are two of the players who joined Brooks in Lexington when the Wildcats hired him away from Virginia Tech. Amoore and sophomore center Clara Strack, who tallied 15 points against Liberty, played for Brooks at Virginia Tech.
Now, the group Brooks and the Wildcats have assembled this season is one win away from Kentucky's first Sweet 16 since 2016.
"We just wanted to build around it and make sure we put pieces together and not just have a collection of talent," Brooks said. "I thought we did a really good job of that. Evident by the way they've come together, play together. You would look at them and think they been together for a while."