Time is supposed to heal all wounds. In the physical sense, time did not come through for the UK women’s basketball team.Head coach Matthew Mitchell expects to be without the services of sophomore guard Crystal Riley (stress fracture) and freshman center Anna Cole (stress fracture) for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Junior guard Carly Morrow remains day-to-day with an undetermined illness.But the near two weeks that will pass from UK’s last game and Saturday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 13 seed Liberty should serve as a mental recharger for the UK Hoops team.”It’s been great,” Mitchell said. “I’m telling you, it’s been exactly what I’d hoped. Right now, for us, it’s all about our mentality and can we play close to our identity.Tthat is so much more mental than it is physical. You just have to be tough minded. You have to be mentally strong. We have to have great enthusiasm that leads to great energy. Great energy leads to great effort and it’s a real simple formula for us.”Unlike the men, the women had to sit through a full week before learning of their postseason plans. The week was well worth the wait as the Cats learned they would be playing just down the road in Louisville, but now they have another week before tipping things off in Freedom Hall on Saturday. The time off could affect any positive momentum UK built during the SEC run, but the players welcomed the time off.”Oh, yes, it was lovely,” Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year A’dia Mathies said. “I enjoyed that.”Although the break didn’t allow for Riley and Cole to fully recover, Mitchell said seniors Amani Franklin (ankle) and Lydia Watkins (foot, back) are near 100 percent.UK held one practice last week and has resumed for activity in preparation for the postseason run.”I think mentally and physically we’re just getting back into the rhythm of basketball,” said junior forward Victoria Dunlap, this year’s SEC Player of the Year. “We practiced last week before we got the weekend off. We had some little ups and downs but we still have the same mentality, same effort that we had.”Even though the team remains banged up physically, their mental engines have been revved up for the postseason run.”Mentally for them to have a few days to recharge has been tremendous because they have been able to come back and to play the way they have been in practice has been encouraging,” Mitchell said. “I’m excited. I think the time off has helped us a lot.”