The Kentucky Wildcats, fresh off their first Southeastern Conference women's basketball tournament title since 1982 and on a 10-game winning streak, head into the NCAA tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country.
And this season's success in Lexington has plenty to do with three former prep stars for Chattanooga-area programs: Rhyne Howard of Bradley Central and Treasure Hunt and Jazmine Massengill of Hamilton Heights Christian Academy.
Just how much does it have to do with that trio?
When the Wildcats completed a run of four wins in four days at the SEC tournament in Nashville by rallying to upset two-time reigning champion South Carolina, 64-62, Howard, Hunt and Massengill either scored or assisted every basket over the last 7:42 at Bridgestone Arena.
Their defense also helped hold the top-ranked Gamecocks scoreless over the last 5:02, and Massengill's 26th assist of the tournament - the 6-foot senior point guard had just four turnovers in Nashville - found the hot hand of Dre'Una Edwards for the winning 3-pointer with less than five seconds on the clock.
Down by 15 in the third quarter and still trailing by double digits with 5:30 to play, coach Kyra Elzy's team fought to continue a streak it started after losing eight of nine games to stand at 9-11 overall and 2-8 in the SEC. The final loss in that rough run was 59-50 to South Carolina on Feb. 10 in Lexington, adding another level of redemption to the victory that clinched an NCAA berth for the Wildcats, who had headed to Nashville on the bubble for March Madness.
"We just stayed together. We didn't quit or give up," said Howard, a 6-2 senior who could be selected first in this year's WNBA draft and this week became just the ninth player to make The Associated Press All-America first team for a third time.
"After we were losing, we could have just laid down and not cared anymore or pointed fingers. But we fought through it together and we stayed confident. For a while, we only had six healthy players. Once we got everybody back, that helped us a lot, too."
Six straight wins to close the regular season left the Wildcats seeded seventh for the league tourney, where they beat 10th-seeded Mississippi State 83-67, second-seeded LSU 78-63 and third-seeded Tennessee 83-74 before topping the Gamecocks, handing the SEC's regular-season champions just their second loss of the season.
Howard scored 88 points in the tournament, shooting 10-for-20 from 3-point range, but Edwards - one of the country's top sixth women, she has averaged 16.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game this season - came off the bench to score 27 points against South Carolina. The last three made shots of the game came from Edwards over the final 1:47, with the assists by Howard, Hunt and Massengill.
"What I will remember the most about our championship is the way we battled," Howard said. "South Carolina had us down big in the third, and we continued to fight and come back. To be able to finally say I am a champion, nothing beats that. It's the best feeling for me, my teammates, our coaches and all of our fans."
Hunt, a 6-1 sophomore who moved into the starting lineup at the beginning of the season, had 31 points and 16 rebounds in the tournament. She also combined with Howard and Massengill for 13 blocks.
"To win the SEC championship means a lot, but to do it with my family is everything," said Hunt, who played AAU basketball with Howard and Massengill. "I am so glad our team won after all the things we have been through. My favorite moment was Dre's postgame interview after her epic shot. We were all going crazy."
The team was welcomed home with a parade and an outpouring of love from a basketball-crazed community that had waited 40 years for another SEC women's title. Is there more celebrating ahead for the Wildcats?
Kentucky (19-11) is the No. 6 seed for the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Region and will open against No. 11 seed Princeton (24-4), the Ivy League champion, at 4 p.m. Saturday in Bloomington, Indiana. ESPN will televise the game, with the winner playing again Monday against either third-seeded site host Indiana (22-8) or 14th-seeded Charlotte (22-9); those two meet at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
In two weeks, the 68-team bracket will be down to its Final Four, with the semifinals April 1 in Minneapolis and the championship game there two days later.
"This is definitely a season for the history books," said Howard, whose 2,273 career points rank second at Kentucky. "The best finish of course would be a national championship run. We want to continue to prove people wrong. They still don't think we will make it very far in the NCAA tournament. They think all of our wins were flukes, basically. We are hungry to continue the streak we are on and keep it going until the end."
Whatever happens, Howard, Hunt and Massengill will have familiar faces to look to along the way.
"Our friendships goes way back to grade school," Massengill said in an earlier interview with the Times Free Press. "We are all really like sisters. It's more than a friendship. They are family. This is a dream come true to be playing together again. This is crazy."
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.