It was a night to remember for the Kentucky women’s basketball’s seniors in Memorial Coliseum Thursday night. 

The Cats (21-6, 10-5 SEC) put on a show in front of 4,163 fans on Senior Night, in what was UK’s last home game of the season, defeating the Georgia Bulldogs (15-13, 6-9 SEC) 88-77. 

“This was a little extra special just with it being Senior Night,” Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “And wow, did the seniors step up in a major, major way. All five of them really played some great basketball tonight to help us win. We needed a win badly, and we certainly wanted to send them out with a win on Senior Night.”

Seniors Jaida Roper, Amanda Paschal, Nae Nae Cole, Sabrina Haines and Ogechi Anyagaligbo all played in Memorial Coliseum for the last time of their careers. Each of them addressed the crowd with speeches after the win.

“I just want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for accepting a kid from Phoenix,” Kentucky transfer guard Haines told the Big Blue Nation. “You know, I’ve been through a lot throughout my college career and just the fact that coach Mitchell and all the coaches and all my teammates were able to take me in and make me one of their own, it honestly means the world to me.”

After a pregame ceremony in which all the seniors were announced on the floor with their families and a collective singing of ‘My Old Kentucky Home,’ the Cats came out rocking. Kentucky hit 10 three-pointers in the first half—four from sophomore Rhyne Howard who finished with 25 points, three from Haines and one each from Paschal, Blair Green and KeKe McKinney. Kentucky had 15 assists, led by Roper with five, and scored nine points off five Georgia turnovers. 

The Bulldogs adjusted after halftime though, and only allowed two total threes from Kentucky in the second half. UGA head coach Joni Taylor says that was a mix of her team’s defensive adjustments and Kentucky just missing open shots. 

“Kentucky came out red hot (in the first half) and we weren’t locked in,” Taylor said. “Give them credit, they have players you have to defend on every spot on the floor… And then I think we buckled down defensively and got better with that through the third quarter and came out and played defense the way we’re used to playing defense and tried to take away their opportunities to score the three.”

Another huge factor for Kentucky was free throw shooting—the Cats shot 20-of-21 for 95 percent from the free throw line. Roper played a major part in that as she went a perfect 11-for-11 from the line. 

“I try to relax, that’s why I close my eyes. I kind of stole that from (Immanuel) Quickley,” Roper said. “Just focusing my mind to hit a shot that I practice almost every single day.”

The win was special for the Kentucky seniors in a lot of ways, but especially for Anyagaligbo, who says her mom was there in attendance to watch her play for the first time since her senior year of high school.

“I was so nervous, I just didn’t want to fail her,” Anyagaligbo said. “I’m just happy we got the win, because for me that was– I have a weight lifted off my shoulder and I just really appreciate that we could pull it off like that.”

The Cats return to the floor on Sunday, March 1 in Nashville to take on Vanderbilt.