Epps shines in double-overtime thriller

UK guard Mikayla Epps puts up a layup under pressure from Mississippi State forward Victoria Vivians at the University of Kentucky vs. Mississippi State women’s basketball game in Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday, February 12, 2015. Kentucky defeated Mississippi 92-90. Photo by Cameron Sadler

By Kevin Erpenbeck

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Call it insane, amazing, exciting or crazy. All four words were used to describe the final play of UK’s double-overtime game against Mississippi State on Thursday.

After sophomore point guard Makayla Epps missed a jumper with five seconds left, a mad scramble for the ball occurred under the basket, with senior forward Jelleah Sidney coming up with the rebound. Sidney threw a dart of a pass to keep the play alive, and after ricocheting off a few more players, the ball bounced in front of Epps.

She didn’t miss the second game-winner attempt, powering UK to the 92-90 victory.

“Complete craziness. It was bouncing off faces, noses and ears,” Epps said of the final play. “Then I looked up and it was right there. I shot it and I was out. Soon as I let it go I was out.”

Epps’ final basket gave her a game-high 42 points, just one shy of UK’s record of 43, which senior guard Jennifer O’Neill recorded in a quadruple-overtime win over Baylor last year.

While the final play was hard to narrow down to one word, head coach Matthew Mitchell didn’t have any difficulty summing up the play of his star point guard.

“Incredible,” Mitchell said of Epps. “I’ve been telling you guys for a while that she was ready to go for 25 or 30 with not a lot of difficulty. She’s just so strong and it’s hard for people to keep her out of the lane. I’m glad she scored 42 and not 39. We needed those extra three points.”

The Cats actually had double-digit leads over the Bulldogs multiple times in the game and were up by as many as 14 points in the first half. But Mississippi State refused to quit, something that head coach Vic Shaefer was proud of his team for.

“I sat here two years ago after getting my butt handed to us by 55 or 58 (points). It’s hard to see today,” Schaefer said. “When (today’s) game could have gone the other way, our kids bowed our necks and fought. I’m just so proud of my kids and our program.”

Mississippi State freshman forward Victoria Vivians led her team with 39 points while picking up eight rebounds. Schaefer added that if wasn’t for Vivians’ first-half performance (18 points and five rebounds), the Bulldogs might have been completely out of the game.

But Mitchell countered with a similar statement regarding the Cats’ star performer.

“We didn’t look like we could win any other way tonight without (Epps),” Mitchell said. “A couple of our players were off and we weren’t real consistent at times. We needed her. Needed every (point).”