With two players — DeNesha Stallworth and Samarie Walker — who have transformed Kentucky’s style of play celebrating their Senior Day on Sunday, Matthew Mitchell drew up an appropriate game plan.Facing a smaller Vanderbilt team, Mitchell called for the Wildcats to throw the ball into the post early and often.”Coach pretty much told the guards in practice — even during the game — that we have an advantage on the inside,” Stallworth said. “So that was really our big emphasis and the high-low was very important.”Capitalizing on her opportunities, Stallworth scored a game-high 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting as No. 12/15 UK withstood Vandy in a 65-63 victory in Memorial Coliseum. Walker, meanwhile, had just two points to go with her eight rebounds, but had four assists in often serving as the passer in UK’s high-low attack against the Commodore zone. Three of those assists resulted in Stallworth baskets.”I think me and Samarie, we play well together for the most part,” Stallworth said. “So we were trying to take advantage of our size and get the ball inside.”UK (22-7, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) used that approached to build a first-half lead of as many as 17 points, but Vanderbilt (18-11, 7-9 SEC) rallied when the two post players went to the bench with fouls. Walker picked up her second with 9:51 left and Stallworth did the same a little more than six minutes later. “I thought when DeNesha (Stallworth) and Samarie (Walker) went to the bench that we just didn’t have much inside presence, and that’s where our advantage was,” Mitchell said. “You really needed to get tough in there and make some decisions and get some reads against their 2-3 zone.”Vandy went on an 18-2 run and eventually trailed just 36-33 at the break. It would be a back-and-forth battle from that point on, with neither team leading by five until the final minute.At that point, the Commodores made one final push. Vandy used a 3 by Christina Foggie, a steal and two Foggie free throws throws to close to within one with less than 15 seconds to go. Bria Goss (12 points) then hit one-of-two free throws before UK used solid defense to force a Jasmine Jenkins miss in the closing seconds.”I’m going to tell you, this team worked so hard to get ready for today’s game,” Mitchell said. “I thought we had a few terrific moments and really made it tough on Vanderbilt, but at the end of the day, to be able to walk off that floor with a victory on Senior Day, there are not many better feelings than that.”The victory gives UK five in its last six games, an impressive feat considering the Cats’ position at the start of that stretch. Kentucky then sat at 5-5 in conference play having lost five of nine games and facing a crisis of confidence. Now, UK will head to the SEC Tournament in Duluth, Ga., with a double bye as the No. 4 seed and a renewed sense of self-assurance entering its opener on Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET.”Four Sundays ago we were 5-5 and here we are still a No. 4 seed and I think that takes a lot of toughness and encouragement and support,” Goss said. “I think that we really buckled down and got it together.”To Stallworth, togetherness is the most important word.”I think us staying together was most important because it just would have been easy for everybody to go their separate ways and just say, ‘You know, forget this,’ ” she said. “But I think we did a great job of just staying positive and just knowing that we have more opportunities ahead of us and we’ve just come together. That’s why we’re winning these games.”By closing with a win, UK sends off Stallworth, Walker, Kastine Evans and Bernisha Pinkett with a win in their final regular-season home game, which was Mitchell’s goal more than postseason positioning.”Our focus and our sense of purpose came from trying to make sure we won for the seniors today,” Mitchell said. “That was our focus today. We didn’t really worry about seeding in the SEC Tournament.”A year from now, it will be Goss embracing her family before her final home game. That thought struck her as she watched her teammates do the same and she intends to carry it forward into what’s ahead for UK.”I just learned I’m a junior and next year I’m going to be a senior and how fast these seasons are going,” Goss said. “I just want to send these seniors out right and go down to Duluth and just put on a show and just fight for them and leave it all on the court.”