At the end of the 2023-24 season, All-American guard Georgia Amoore had to make a decision about her future. And she had plenty of options.

Amoore could have returned to Virginia Tech for a fifth season. She could have entered her name in the WNBA Draft, where she likely would have been drafted. Or she could take on an entirely new challenge.

Luckily for the Kentucky women’s basketball team, Amoore decided to take on that new challenge. She followed head coach Kenny Brooks to Lexington and immediately became the cornerstone of Brooks’ rebuilding of the program. What led Amoore to make this decision?

“It was me. I was thinking about it. I was at a point in my life where I could have declared (to the WNBA), I could have gone pro or try to go overseas,” Amoore said. “It took me a long time to come to the conclusion. I did it myself and I thought, it’s going to be a new challenge, it’s change, new conference, new facilities.”

The WNBA seemed to be a legitimate option for Amoore after her four-year career at Virginia Tech where she averaged 18.8 points and 6.8 assists per game for the Hokies. What specifically did she see in the challenge at Kentucky?

“I took a long time to think about it. Obviously, (the WNBA is) appealing. My name was in a good position in the mock drafts,” Amoore said. “But, at the end of the day, I have a lot more to work on and I think, being a point guard, trying to be the best leader I can be because it’s such a vital thing for my position. (I thought) why not test it with a whole new team that needs to get integrated. We’ve got babies, we’ve got new people who haven’t played in a division like this before, like a conference like this. So this was the best challenge for me to try to improve the non-physical things about being a point guard.”

A native of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Amoore is still getting acclimated to the Lexington area. However, having some familiar faces in town has certainly been helpful.

“It’s been good. There’s been a lot of comfort obviously coming in with the previous staff,” Amoore said. “The basketball side has been pretty consistent with what it’s been for me for the past four years. Still, new city, new place. I’m still yet to see all I want to see.”

How is the challenge of leading a team going so far?

“We’re definitely getting there,” Amoore said. “We’ve had a couple of team workouts. It’s vital at this point in the summer that you start developing chemistry. Off court, our energy and our chemistry is good. Great bunch of girls.”

The challenge for Brooks is to take an almost entirely new team and make them cohesive unit. Having Amoore on the roster should make that process easier. She’s certainly prepared for the challenge.