Tonie Morgan had one of the best Kentucky WBB individual performances of all-time against LSU

Kentucky shocked the women’s college basketball world as Tonie Morgan nailed a game-winning three, catapulting the Cats to an 80-78 win over the previously undefeated LSU Tigers. Morgan was absolutely incredible on Thursday, and it wasn’t just because of her game-winner, though that was pretty freakin’ sweet.

Playing in 39 minutes of the game — only coming out briefly because she took an accidental elbow straight to the face from Teonni Key — the former two-time All-ACC point guard put up 24 points on 7-10 (3-3 3PT) shooting and 12 assists while not committing a single turnover. Not one in 39 minutes against a team like LSU.

Sure, Jennifer O’Neill, Rhyne Howard and Georgia Amoore each recorded a program record 43 points at one point during their respective Kentucky careers, and Morgan and Patty Jo Hedges-Ward have both tallied 16 assists in a game before donning the blue and white, but when you consider all of the stats that Morgan had against LSU and the context of the game and how it was won, it should be fair to say that Tonie Morgan just treated Big Blue Nation to one of the best individual performances in Kentucky women’s basketball history, right?

Of course, the game-winner is the cherry on top, and in the postgame press conference after the victory, Morgan explained how it came to be.

“So, coach called a play, came off the screen, didn’t like what I saw,” Morgan said. “I saw the time running down, and I was like, ‘I gotta make a play,’ and I stepped back, it went in, and that was it.”

Kenny Brooks added to Morgan’s explanation, saying, “One of the things that she and I are getting to be joined at the hip, understanding each other, and as I called the play, she asked me, ‘When do you want me to go?’ She said, ‘Do you want me to go and shoot it when we have enough time to get a rebound,’ and I said, ‘No’.”

Brooks had the confidence that his team would get the job done in the big moment, and as it was happening, he almost knew that it was going to work.

“They executed perfectly,” he continued. “She threw it in, and I think Clara [Strack] got double-teamed, and as soon as she let it go, I was right in line with the basketball, and I was like, ‘That’s going in’.”

Of course, the shot did go in, and just like that, Kentucky had pulled off one of its biggest wins in program history thanks to an all-time outing from Tonie Morgan.

According to friend of the program and UK statistician Corey Price, Morgan is just the second Division I women’s college basketball player since the 2002-2003 season to have at least 24 points and 12 assists in a true road game against an AP top five opponent with the only other one being Caitlin Clark at No. 2 Ohio State in 2023. That’s just further proof that what Morgan did against LSU on Thursday was historic, all-time great stuff.