By Joshua Huff

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The Baylor Lady Bears learned that revenge is a dish best served in the comfort of home as UK Hoops gritted out a far-from-flawless victory on Monday night in Rupp Arena against the team that knocked the Cats out of the Sweet 16 last season.

The grit exemplified by UK against the No. 8 ranked team in the country highlights the hard work and dedication put in by this Cats team during the offseason. Despite shooting just 36 percent from the field and an even worse 29 percent from beyond the arch, UK somehow buckled down and overcame a 10-point deficit at halftime to win 74-64.

UK’s struggles during the first half caused UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell to scratch his head in confusion.

“Clearly it was a poor, poor performance,” Mitchell said. “A lot of jitters, I guess. Very lacking in focus, I mean, at halftime I just said ‘I don’t even know what you folks are doing out there. I have no idea what’s going on in your mind, but we don’t have a real complicated system here’ and we needed to start settling down and showing some poise.”

And settle down UK did.

Behind the leadership of senior point guard Jennifer O’Neill and the toughness of sophomore guard Makayla Epps, the Cats, point by point and minute by minute, whittled down Baylor’s lead until Epps found herself on the free-throw line with the chance to tie the game midway through the second half.

With the crowd roaring and junior point guard Janee Thompson on the sideline screaming “one stop,” UK locked down on defense and took its first lead of the second half on a three-point shot from senior guard Bria Goss that sent the arena wild.

Yet it was the stubborn relentlessness from O’Neill that pushed UK past the quickly-tiring Lady Bears late in the second half. Despite shooting 0-for-10 from beyond the arch, she never hesitated when she received the ball late in the game and drilled a three pointer to put Baylor on the canvas.

That persistence to shoot regardless of her struggles is a byproduct of Mitchell, who continued to have confidence in his senior.

“(There) was no doubt,” Mitchell said about O’Neill’s first three of 11 attempts. “That I was going to continue to tell her to shoot. I don’t know whether they’re going in or not, I’m cheering for every one of them to go in. A lot of them looked good.”

Her final three-point attempt did look good, not just to Mitchell but to a crowd who was treated to a show despite traveling to Rupp amid record-setting cold and snowy roadways.

Tonight was the first test for this Cats team destined to do great things this season. With a rotating cast of young and experienced talent, the game tonight showed UK fans and the nation alike that UK is here to stay and is threatening to change the landscape of women’s college basketball.

“I’m just so grateful to work in a place like this,” Mitchell said. “Where people care and on a Monday night, where there is just the worst weather. They show up and there are 20,000 people tonight. You just have no idea how grateful and blessed we all are to play at a place like Kentucky. This is just unbelievable.”