The UK Hoops team is running, scoring and playing defense unlike any team we’ve seen in the Matthew Mitchell era.The Cats have already eclipsed the 80-point mark twice this season – a feat they accomplished just four times last year – and they’ve outscored their three opponents by a margin of 24.0 points per game.Imagine what those numbers would be like with senior guard/forward Lydia Watkins, who has missed the first three games of the season with a strained left shoulder. Watkins injured her shoulder during the Bellarmine exhibition game.An MRI test two weeks ago indicated there was no structural damage, and Mitchell said Friday that she could return as early as Sunday against Chattanooga. “She’s definitely closer,” Mitchell said. “She did some functional tests yesterday that had good results, so it’s a possibility for her to play Sunday. We’ll know more this afternoon, but she’s clearly progressing back and closer to this point than she has been. It’s not a situation where we’re still trying to figure out if she’s coming back. She’ll be back either this game or we would be hopeful at the latest next Wednesday.”Watkins is expected to be one of the key returning cogs on this year’s team. Before missing most of last season due to personal reasons, Watkins averaged 4.4 points and 3.8 rebounds as a sophomore.The 6-foot-1 athletic senior not only adds another athletic presence in the paint – a position the Cats are razor thin at – she’s one of the few veteran players on a team primarily made up of inexperienced and untested freshmen and transfers.”We’re an athletic team without her. When you add her, she may even be one of the top two or three athletes on the team, so it just makes you more athletic,” Mitchell said. “It makes you deeper in the frontcourt, but the biggest thing is it does is brings back experience, and that’s very, very important for us now against quality opponents.”Freshman forward Brittany Henderson has filled in admirably for Watkins, averaging 2.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in 11.0 minutes of play, but Mitchell said the experience Watkins brings to the table is irreplaceable.”I’ve been happy with Brittany Henderson and her effort (but) she’s just three games into a career and there’s no way she can function at a level that Lydia can being a fourth-year senior,” Mitchell said. “It’s clearly an upgrade to our team when (Watkins is) available.”