ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For the entire 2010-11 season, senior forward Victoria Dunlap and sophomore guard A’dia Mathies have been the heart and soul of the Kentucky women’s basketball team. They have been asked to do numerous things on the court and they have done most all of them well.If UK Hoops is to make an extended run this NCAA Tournament, there will be days that Dunlap and Mathies have to shoulder the load. Thanks to herculean efforts by a number of their teammates, they will have that opportunity.Behind stellar play by UK’s purported supporting cast, the Kentucky Wildcats survived a first-round matchup against a game Hampton team in a heart-stopping 66-62 overtime victory in Albuquerque, N.M.”It was that kind of day,” head coach Matthew Mitchell said. “Everybody had to play, everybody had to step up. A lot of kids scored today and it took just about all of them.”Keyla Snowden headlined that group, scoring 19 points on the game, including four 3-pointers. When Dunlap went to the bench with her second foul with 9:55 remaining in the first half, it looked as if UK would have trouble holding onto a 10-8 lead against Hampton’s swarming defense.The Wildcats turned to Snowden to carry the load and carry the load she did. She poured in 16 first-half points, scoring from distance, on drives and from the foul line. Her contributions helped send the Wildcats into halftime with a 32-26 lead in spite of only four combined points and rebounds from Dunlap and Mathies.”When teams let her have a little room, it’s a dangerous thing for them because she’s such a good shooter,” Mitchell said. “I thought so many players were playing in such a rush and just not playing well from a mental standpoint, I thought Keyla kind of bailed us out there.”With Dunlap and later Mathies exiting with two fouls in the first half, Mitchell was equally pleased with how Snowden stepped into the leadership void left by the absence of his two stars.”I thought Keyla was really talking and trying to be a leader and never got down,” Mitchell said. “It was a great performance by her and she’s really matured into not only a good player, but a good leader for us.”Perhaps lost a bit in Snowden’s first-half explosion was the lift that freshman forward Sarah Beth Barnette provided. Barnette canned a pair of 3s and grabbed three vital rebounds, a signal that every player on the roster is ready to contribute when her number is called.”Anybody can come in,” sophomore forward Brittany Henderson said. “Sarah Beth came in and hit two big shots.”When the second half started, Kentucky looked to establish the previously quiet Dunlap immediately. However, Mid Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Quanneisha Perry and her teammates continued to make life hard for Dunlap.”I think starting with Hampton and their pressure defense, they were working a lot of traps and ducking in on me trying to make me either pick the ball up or throw it back out to my teammates,” Dunlap said. “They did a good job of making me decide and making me become a little hesitant on what I was doing on the offensive end.” Dunlap was consistently doubled in the post whenever she got the ball on her hands, so she turned to the offensive glass to create opportunities for herself. Dunlap had 11 points and 10 rebounds after halftime, but still shot just four of her 14 shots. Behind Dunlap, UK nabbed a 51-45 lead with 7:57 remaining in regulation, but Hampton’s defense stiffened and allowed the Pirates to close on a 11-5 run to send the game to overtime.During that run, Mathies picked up her fifth foul and headed to the bench for the remainder of the game. With Mathies watching from the sidelines, Mitchell turned to freshman guard Maegan Conwright to run his team as the point guard in the extra session.”That was an unbelievable performance by Maegan Conwright,” Mitchell said. “It was incredible what she did in overtime.”In overtime, Brittany Henderson was challenged to make a difference for her team by Mitchell and injured guard Amber Smith.”Before overtime started, Amber said I could change the game by getting on the boards,” Henderson said.Henderson responded not only by hitting the glass for two vital rebounds, but she also scored the Wildcats’ first four points of the extra stanza to stake the Cats to a lead that they never relinquished.The fact that UK was able to overcome a worthy opponent while getting sub-par performances by its two stars is a positive sign for how the rest of the team has come.”I love my teammates,” Henderson said. “We pick each other up when we know somebody is struggling.”Based on past performance, it’s a safe bet to say that Dunlap and Mathies will bounce back and play to the level that has become expected of them. Dunlap had a workmanlike second half that was more characteristic of her All-American form, but Mathies never quite found her way into this game coming off of a back injury that limited her in practice.”We didn’t really get a good performance out of A’dia today,” Mitchell said. “I think her timing really suffered. She’s been off for two weeks,”When UK plays its second-round matchup against fifth-seeded North Carolina on Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET, Mitchell anticipates that her timing will be much improved.”I just think that she’ll be much better on Monday,” Mitchell said.Add an in sync A’dia Mathies to a team that gutted out a very hard-fought victory and you have a team capable of making a lot of noise.