It was nothing short of a battle in Memorial Coliseum Monday night as the No. 3-seed UK women’s basketball team took on No. 6-seed Oklahoma University in the second round of NCAA tournament play.

The Oklahoma Sooners took a brutal 79-58 loss as UK advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. This will be the fourth time in the five years UK will be playing in the Sweet 16.

“I am so proud of our players and I am so excited for them,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “I had a lot of confidence that we would win, but I am just so proud of what they have done up to this point.”

The Cats proved they came ready to play, as guard Maci Morris led the the team with nine points in the first quarter shooting three-for-three behind the arc.

“The team relies on me to shoot and score,” Morris said. “They tell me if I’m open on the three-point line to shoot and knock down shots.”

It paid off as the Cats barely took the first quarter, 20-19.

UK gave itself a little bit of a cushion in the second quarter as it went on a 7-0 run. Oklahoma did not have a basket in the final 2:39 of the second quarter. The Cats then forced back-to-back shot clock violations to end the half, leading 35-27.

Makayla Epps, the leading scorer for UK, stayed quiet in the first half as all six of her points came from the free throw line. he scoring was pretty spread out for UK in the first half as Maci Morris paced the Cats with nine, Alexis Jennings had six and Batouly Camara had five points.

The second half became more physical as Epps took a hard foul to her right shoulder and asked to come out of the game after making a free throw.

“It shows the kind of heart and tenacity she has,” teammate Janee Thompson said. “We all care about each other a lot. It had to have been really serious if she didn’t come back.”

Epps re-entered the game after some time in the tunnel with the trainer and team doctor but held her shoulder tight to her body almost the entire time she was in.

After not using her shoulder all quarter, Epps hit a huge three, her first three of the game.

The momentum did not stray away from UK as it went on a 6-0 run within a minute and hit six of seven field goals. The Cats led at the end of the third quarter, 56-46.

The Cats gave no remorse in the fourth quarter.

“They were relentless on the boards both offense and defense,” Oklahoma’s Gioya Carter said. “They weren’t letting us get lanes to the basket. They were physical all around.”

Carter led Oklahoma with 12 points, three rebounds and four fouls. She wasn’t the only one on her team with foul trouble. The Sooners gave up 26 fouls and the Cats had no problem using that to their advantage.

“Never in a million years did I think they would have 29 points from the free throw line,” Oklahoma Head Coach Sherri Coale said. “That’s crazy.”

Epps in particular used that to her advantage as 10 of her 13 points of the game came from the free throw line.

“Foul trouble kept us out of rotation all night long,” Coale said. “It affected us from the first quarter.”

It was a special night for guard UK’s Thompson as she became a 1,000th-pointer scorer during the last home game of her college basketball career. The mark was reached with 3:28 in the second quarter when the senior splashed a jumper in the paint.

“I am thrilled for our senior Janee Thompson who has been through so much at this place,” Mitchell said.

Thompson led the Cats with 16 points, four assists and three rebounds.

“It means a lot for me to be able to come out here and get a win,” Thompson said.

It is not over for Thompson or UK —  they will compete in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena on Friday. UK will take on No. 7 seed Washington.