KANSAS CITY, Mo. —UK’s unlikely season continued on Sunday, this time in the form of a historic, and arguably, the biggest win in program history.

One dream season was going to come to an end following the end of the Sweet 16 matchup between UK and Nebraska.

But it was the top-seeded Huskers (32-2) who came crashing back to reality after losing 76-67 to fourth-seeded UK (28-7). The Cats and the Cornhuskers were both gunning for their first Elite Eight appearance in school history.

“We didn’t come here looking at seeds, we came here just ready to compete,” junior guard Amber Smith said.

UK entered the game with an 11-win improvement over last season, but the Huskers, who boasted a 17-win improvement, were favored to not to let the best season in their school’s history go to waste.

Despite a sparse number of UK fans, greatly outnumbered by Huskers fans, in attendance at the Sprint Center, the Cats were not intimidated by the hostile environment that they benefited from in their first two tournament games held in Louisville.

“I was so impressed with our players in that atmosphere,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “I thought we made some pretty tough plays to answer some big (plays) they made when their crowd was trying to get behind them.”

The first 10 minutes saw the game teeter back and forth with seven lead changes and seven ties. Both teams also shot extremely well from the floor in the first half as UK shot 56.7 percent and Nebraska shot 60 percent.

However, with 9:43 remaining in the first half, the Cats went on a 9-2 run to provide some separation from the Huskers. UK extended the lead to 13 with just over a minute left in the half, but the Huskers chipped the margin back to single digits before the intermission as they trailed 43-34.

Yet in the second half, the Huskers started slowly, and the UK lead ballooned to 19, the largest of the game, five minutes into the half.

Despite periodical four and five-point runs that ignited the Nebraska faithful into cheers, UK managed to respond quickly with scores of their own.

“We came back, we fought, we battled to the end,” Nebraska forward Kelsey Griffin said.

In the final 8:11, Nebraska made one final charge and trimmed the lead to seven, but simply ran out of gas to complete the comeback.

“Coach told us to just calm down, stay focused, take care of the ball and be ready to shoot free throws and make them,” Smith said.

The Huskers were always dangerous, as the starting lineup consisted of an All-Big 12 honoree at every position, including Griffin, who finished with a double-double.

Conversely, the Cats, who lacked star power beyond Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Victoria Dunlap, had every player who played score points, including a team-high 21 points by SEC Freshman of the Year A’dia Mathies.

For the second straight game, the undersized Cats won the battle of the boards with a 36-25 margin.

The Kansas City Regional Final will be between UK and another Big 12 team after third-seeded Oklahoma defeated second-seeded Notre Dame in an overtime thriller earlier in the night, 77-72.

“It’s not time for us to attach meaning or significance to this win,” Mitchell said. “We will be working hard to advance on.”