Georgia women win in overtime

She caught the ball and quickly put it up on the left wing, and it proved to be the game-winner.

"Coach [Andy Landers] told me, ‘Hey, we're coming to you,' " James said. "I felt like, ‘Hey, if he trusts me, if he's confident enough in me to knock the shot down, I need to really focus and knock it down.' That's what I did."

It capped what was a spotty overtime for the Bulldogs but one that ultimately finished with them on top.

Georgia didn't score for the first four minutes of the extra period before Ashley Houts drove into the middle of the lane and hit a layup to give her a career-high 27 points.

It was the last in a long line of examples of Houts giving a lift to the Georgia offense, which struggled much of the night against an aggressive Kentucky defense.

She said she simply took advantage of the opportunities the Wildcats defense gave her to make some plays.

"We knew they were going to pressure. We watched film, and they got up in the passing lanes," Houts said. "As guards, when they guard you like that, it's always just natural to put it on the floor to try to get by them."

It looked like Porsha Phillips had won the game in regulation with a short basket off an inbounds play that gave Georgia a 55-54 lead with 15 seconds to play.

Then, the Bulldogs began to celebrate when Meredith Mitchell blocked a Kentucky shot and dribbled down the court before being fouled with 2.8 seconds left.

After she made one of two free throws, she fouled Kentucky's Amber Smith on the inbounds play. Smith made both free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

Kentucky entered the game with a reputation for playing disruptive defense, and the Wildcats didn't disappoint against Georgia. The Wildcats -- who led the nation in turnover margin at plus-10.8 entering Thursday's game -- made the Georgia offense sputter much of the game, forcing 24 turnovers.

But it was Georgia's defense perhaps doing the most impressive job in the early going, holding a Kentucky team that was averaging more than 82 points per game to just 60 points on 32 percent shooting.

Among the Wildcats who couldn't seem to figure out the Bulldogs defense was Victoria Dunlap, who entered the game third in the SEC in scoring (19.2 points per game) but could manage only four points in the first half on 2-of-6 shooting.

Angel Robinson, who teamed with Porsha Phillips to guard Dunlap most of the night, said slowing her down was the team's biggest defensive focus in the practices leading up to the game.

"We had talked the last few days about how to defend her," Robinson said. "She's a great player for an undersized post player. She takes advantage of how she's so thin. She's a lot quicker. I credit my coach in doing a great job; that helped us in being prepared."