No. 21 Kentucky women’s basketball (8-3) defeated No. 15 Georgia (12-3) 84-76 on Thursday night in Memorial Coliseum.

The contest was the first official game the Wildcats have played in over two weeks with multiple postponements holding them out of action since Dec. 19.

Though the shooting was a little rusty, which is to be expected after a hiatus, the Wildcats were able to find their shot, finishing the game shooting 52 percent from the field on 67 attempts. Kentucky also went just 5-16 from beyond the arch, though they lucked out with Georgia shooting 2-10 from deep.

Another hindrance the Wildcats were able to overcome was the atmosphere. Despite it being a home game in Memorial Coliseum, the Cats had nearly no fan or cheer support after dangerous roads from unprecedented inclement weather resulted in nearly no attendees. 

“[We did] have to get ourselves going,” senior star Rhyne Howard said. “I think we did a pretty good job. We came out with high intensity, high energy, and we just made the most of it.”

Howard herself was one of the biggest factors that led to a Kentucky victory, as she led all scorers with 30 points, a season high. 

Despite the huge showing, the biggest story surrounding Howard came early on when she scored her sixth point of the night. The made basket allowed Howard to surpass Victoria Dunlap as Kentucky’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,874 career points.

To go along with a career-high and breaking a scoring record, Howard also scored the last nine points for the Wildcats with three free throws and three layups. With the margin of victory being eight, Howard’s performance appeared vital to the victory on Thursday.

“I thought [Howard] played aggressive and looked to score in a variety of ways,” UK head coach Kyra Elzy said. “She posted up, she got offensive rebounds, and she played in the passing lanes which made her harder to guard.”

The win over Georgia improves Kentucky to 1-2 against ranked opponents, but more importantly allows the Cats to start 1-0 in the SEC before undertaking a tough stretch of conference games.

One of the toughest games the Cats will play all season conveniently finds itself rapidly approaching on Jan. 9 on the road against No. 1 South Carolina.

Following that game, the Cats, barring postponements, won’t escape the month without having to duel current No. 7 Tennessee, No.13 LSU, as well as tough unranked opponents like Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

“We talked about this team being resilient all year long,” Elzy said. “We talked about being able to control the things that we can control. That was our energy, our attitude, and our effort. [The team] was hungry. I thought our whole team stepped up and they were locked in.”

Kentucky’s matchup against South Carolina is set to tip off at 1 p.m. and will air on ESPN.