By Kevin Erpenbeck

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They knew it wouldn’t be easy, and they knew it would be ugly.

But by defeating No. 8 Baylor 74-64 on Monday, the Cats passed the first big test of the 2014-15 season.

“That’s a great win for us,” said head coach Matthew Mitchell. “We have a lot of respect for Baylor. They’re so well-coached, and they’re such a tough team. It was real test for us, and I’m so proud of our players.”

Baylor, one of the premier college women basketball programs in the nation, had defeated UK 90-72 eight months ago in the Sweet 16 of NCAA Tournament. Since then, the early season top-15 matchup had been circled on the UK’s calendar.

The game, part of UK’s annual “Pack the House” played at Rupp Arena, began with an ugly first half by both teams. The Cats were 30 percent from the field and 2-11 from beyond the arc, while both teams gave up a combined 31 turnovers.

Heading into the half with 34-24 deficit, Mitchell told his team he had no idea what they were doing and reminded them that they “don’t have a real complicated system” at UK. He instructed them to slow down, not be so jittery, and show some poise in the second half.

The Cats took heed to Mitchell’s advice, improving their shooting to over 40 percent from the field, cutting their turnovers to only four, and turning a 10-point deficit into a 10-point statement win.

“We played a tough 20 minutes there in the second half,” Mitchell said. “We have a lot to learn from this, but we’re so tickled that we were able to win.”

Senior point guard Jennifer O’Neill was the player who struggled the most during the game, despite leading her team in points with 22. O’Neill went 0-10 from the 3-line and 5-18 from the field before taking a pass from sophomore guard Makayla Epps with a 65-64 lead over the Bears. Wide open for another three-point shot, O’Neill thought about her previous misses during the night, but didn’t hesitate to take the shot.

This time, shot went in, and O’Neill’s only 3-pointer of the day was the biggest of the night, sealing the victory for the Cats.

“My teammates had a lot of belief in me and told me to keep shooting,” O’Neill said. “They just kept feeding me the ball, so I was going to shoot it.”

Epps also played a huge factor in UK’s second half comeback. After what Mitchell called a very tentative and passive first-half performance from his 5-foot-10 guard, Epps roared back with six rebounds and seven points in the second half to finish with 12 points and eight rebounds on the night.

“She loves Kentucky. She loves playing here,” Mitchell said. “She got down there and (smacked the floor) in excitement a couple of times. She was a very versatile player for us tonight, and impactful in all areas. She’s only scratching the surface of what she can become.”

But the biggest impact of the night, according to Mitchell, was the crowd. In front of a reported 22,075 crowd, the Cats fed off the crowd’s energy and duplicated it on the court. While the atmosphere didn’t affect Baylor in the loss, according to Bears head coach Kim Mulkey, it certainly had an inspiring effect on the Cats.

“It was fantastic for us,” Mitchell said. “When you are emotionally down and not playing well, there’s no question the crowd affected us when we started playing with some energy. It pumps you up, and it was great advantage for us. We’re so grateful for our fans coming out tonight.”