LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Southeastern Conference Tournament trophy arrived Sunday night in Lexington.
Kentucky women's basketball upset top-ranked South Carolina on Sunday to win its first SEC women's tournament championship since 1982.
#BBN gave us a warm welcome home 💙The best fans in the country!#CommitToIt x #GoBigBlue pic.twitter.com/9EvLBH4fev
— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) March 7, 2022
The team's bus arrived back in Lexington and was greeted by fans, friends, family members and fellow student-athletes. Team members led a singing of the school's fight song.
"Thank you everybody for coming. We love you, Big Blue Nation," head coach Kyra Elzy, a La Grange, native who played at Oldham County High School, told the crowd.
The Wildcats hadn't reached the conference championship game since 2014. Kentucky (19-11) won four games in four days during the tournament in Nashville, defeating sixth-ranked LSU and No. 18 Tennessee on the way to the championship game.
Somebody WAKE ME UP! I must be dreaming. God is GOOD! 💙 #SECChamps 🏆 pic.twitter.com/HKK72ofAIA
— Kyra Elzy (@UKCoachLZ) March 7, 2022
Kentucky rallied from a 15-point deficit and held the Gamecocks scoreless in the final five minutes for its 10th-straight win.
It marked a dramatic turnaround for a team that started conference play 2-8. Kentucky became the first team to knock off the tournament's top three seeds to win the title.
Kentucky is the first No. 7 seed to win with ninth-seeded Auburn in 1997 the only lower seed to ever win this event.
Kentucky receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament later this month with the conference tournament championship. The tournament bracket will be revealed at 8 p.m. Sunday.
"Nope, we are not on the bubble," Elzy said after the win over South Carolina. "We have our ticket punched. We are going."
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.
