No. 12 Kentucky women pick up monumental win against No. 22 Alabama

Not only that, Thursday was Kentucky's 500th win at Historic Memorial Coliseum.

Although the Wildcats started conference play 5-0 before a 61-55 loss to Texas A&M on Jan. 23 slowed them down, Kentucky had not faced a ranked opponent since Dec. 5. The Wildcats have been so impressive in the SEC that Thursday's nine-point win was the closest margin of victory in any of their conference wins so far.

While Kentucky shot 41% from the floor, its nine made threes were a good sign a week after hitting just one in 18 tries in the loss to Texas A&M. With 13 threes against Arkansas on Sunday, Kentucky has made 22 combined long-range shots in its last two games.

Senior guard Georgia Amoore led the team with 16 points (6-of-16 FG) and nine assists. Amoore got the offensive rebound and knocked down this triple to extend Kentucky's lead to 46-38 with 2:53 remaining in the third quarter.

Sophomore center Clara Strack (14 points, 7-of-14 FG, 14 rebounds) was a force for the Wildcats. She got this mid-range jumper to go with under two minutes to play in the opening half.

The Wildcats held the Crimson Tide to 31.3% from deep. Following her monster 36-point outing against Vanderbilt, senior guard Sarah Ashlee Barker had 22 points (8-of-18 FG) and seven rebounds. Aside from senior guard Zaay Green's 14 points, no one else had more than eight points.

Alabama (17-5, 4-4 SEC) heads into a matchup with Georgia on Sunday looking to snap a two-game losing streak and get some more help around Barker going forward.

For Kentucky (18-2, 7-1 SEC), its difficult stretch is only beginning in SEC play. The Wildcats hit the road to face a second straight ranked opponent in No. 13 Oklahoma on Sunday. With five of their last eight games against ranked competition, the Wildcats will need to keep knocking down long-range shots to keep pace with SEC-leading No. 2 South Carolina at the top of the conference standings.