With interim coach Kyra Elzy out with a non-COVID-19-related illness, the No. 11 Kentucky women's basketball team rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to beat No. 13 Indiana 72-68 in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sunday.
Kentucky announced about two hours before Sunday's game that Elzy would be out and assistant coach Niya Butts would lead the team. A spokesman said after the game there was no update on when Elzy might return to the sideline, but it is expected to be a short absence.
Butts has previous head-coaching experience, as she was in charge of Arizona's women's program from 2008 to 2016. She had been at Kentucky for five seasons as an assistant before that and in 2016 returned to the Wildcats in that role.
Elzy was named interim coach Nov. 12 when longtime program leader Matthew Mitchell stepped down, citing the lingering effects as he recovers from a head injury suffered in March.
Elzy and Butts go back a long way: They were teammates on Tennessee's 1997 and 1998 national championship teams. Butts said she was in charge of scouting Indiana, which was helpful to her in taking over for Elzy on Sunday.
"Our team responded so well. They've been resilient all season," Butts said. "We didn't play in the first half, and I just challenged them to be more physical than Indiana, because they were beating us in every area."
Sunday was the 26th meeting between Kentucky and Indiana in women's basketball, but the first since 2006. The Wildcats now lead the series 14-12. Sunday's game was the first when both programs were ranked in the Top 25.
Rhyne Howard, in her second game back after starting the season on a two-game suspension, led the Wildcats with 22 points.
"Butts prepared us, and she did her best with short notice," Howard said. "We just battled together."