UK was missing junior forward Victoria Dunlap, who suffered a mild concussion during practice Friday, against Florida A&M on Sunday afternoon. But the Cats didn’t miss a beat.

Bench scoring and stellar defense helped propel the Cats (9-0) to a 91-39 victory over the Lady Rattlers (5-3) in front of season-high 4,608 fans at Memorial Coliseum. The 9-0 start ties the school record set in 1980-81.

Dunlap, the Cats’ leading scorer and rebounder, was held out of the game for precautionary reasons. However, her coach and teammates didn’t find out  until Sunday morning they would be without her services.

“I was very calm when I got the news (about Dunlap) this morning,” UK head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “I told the team the reason I was (so calm was) because the players had prepared at a very high level this week … I had a lot of confidence in my players, and they proved me right.”

The Cats let the Lady Rattlers know from outset they had confidence, too.

In the first 5:16, the Cats had already jumped out to a 13-4 lead and were diving for loose balls and maintaining a lot of ball pressure.

Reigning Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week A’dia Mathies set the tone defensively early.

Mitchell said Mathies’ great start “could not have pleased him more,” especially because Dunlap is also the team’s defensive leader.

The Cats held a 47-29 advantage at the break, but the second half proved to be the more impressive of the two stanzas as the Cats were relentless in their defense.

FAMU was limited to 10 points in the second half on 3-30 shooting. UK held its opponent scoreless for just over a six minute span in the second half and prevented the Lady Rattlers from converting a field goal in the last 13:05.

FAMU head coach LaDawn Gibson said her “ladies left their game in the locker room.” Gibson added that she wanted to watch the tape, so she could learn to make her team “play defense like UK.”

In addition to the defense, four Cats finished with double-figure scoring, including sophomore guard Rebecca Gray, who finished with a career-high 19 points. Gray was perfect from the field and at the free-throw line coming off the bench.

UK’s bench scoring was a big difference in the game as the Cats outscored FAMU 41-2 off of the pine.

However, Gray attributed the offensive success, as UK has all season, to the defensive play.

“I know (FAMU) was frustrated,” Gray said, speaking of the Lady Rattlers 28 turnovers. “The coaches have just pounded defense into our heads.”

Sunday’s game was by no means an anomaly for UK, which has won all of its games by double digits thus far. However, Mitchell said he stressed to his team that no award is given for a 9-0 start.

“We need to stay humble and hungry,” Mitchell said. “Just because we won the last nine doesn’t mean we’ll win the next nine.”

The 9-0 start sets up an interesting scenario, as the Cats can clinch the best start in school history by defeating archrival Louisville on Dec. 20.  The hot start and a win without Dunlap has done wonders for the Cats’ confidence.

“Certainly, we would have rather had Vic, but we’re glad to get the win without her,” Mitchell said.