The 5-foot-8 junior guard from Arlington, Texas, played in 77 games with 20 career starts and in that time, she played nearly every position on the floor for Kentucky.

Conwright, who could not be reached for comment, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee on Dec. 26 and underwent surgery on Jan. 25. Before that, she played in 10 games with four starts and was averaging 10.8 minutes and 2.4 points a game.

For her career, Conwright averaged 19 minutes, 4.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals a game.

Conwright, who was known more as a defensive stopper and aggressive on-ball defender, scored her career high of 15 points at Miami (Ohio) in 2010.

After the graduation of Amber Smith two years ago, Conwright was considered a top contender to take over the starting point guard spot for Kentucky.

In a pre-season interview, Coach Matthew Mitchell said he thought Conwright was poised to have a break-out season.

“There’s a noticeable change in her maturity level from the day she stepped on campus,” Mitchell said in September. “She has so much ability and she’s so smart. She made some eye-popping plays today. She can really make plays; she just battles herself so much mentally.”

In that pre-season interview, Mitchell said he was rooting for Conwright.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with her and I have a lot invested in her at that position,” Mitchell said. “I thought she was going to do it last year and she had a really, really mixed bag of results there.”

After Conwright went down with the knee injury in practice, Jennifer O’Neill seized control of the starting spot and helped lead Kentucky to its third Elite Eight in four seasons.

O’Neill, a junior, returns to lead the team, which likely will include three other McDonald’s All-Americans vying for time at the guard spots in sophomore Janee Thompson and incoming freshmen Linnae Harper and Makayla Epps.

For the past five seasons, Insell has been a key recruiter for Kentucky, including helping the Cats land their first McDonald’s All-American and many others since then.

The son of Middle Tennessee State Coach Rick Insell will stay with Kentucky as it completes its NCAA Tournament run, starting Saturday against Delaware in the Bridgeport Regional.

The team was informed of his departure on Thursday.

“There’s nothing but happiness for him,” Mitchell said by phone. “We’re all sad he’s leaving, but that’s just a credit to him and what he’s done and what he’s meant to our program. The sadness is very much tempered by the great joy we have for him.”

While it was happiness on UK’s end, Insell admitted it was a hard decision for him to leave.

“This was a very tough, emotional decision,” he said via text message before UK left for Bridgeport. “This place is special to me.”

Insell, 30, helped UK sign four straight top 15 recruiting classes and seven high school Alll-Americans in Goss, Jennifer O’Neill, DeNesha Stallworth, Janee Thompson, Samarie Walker and 2013 signees Makayla Epps and Linnae Harper.

He’s known as a recruiter, but he’s been so much more than that, Mitchell said.

During his time at Kentucky, Insell helped develop guard A’dia Mathies, a two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and All-America candidate, and Goss, who was named SEC Freshman of the Year.

“Lots of people know him for his recruiting prowess — and that is spectacular, and he is an extremely hard worker in the recruiting area — but he’s a very, very well rounded coach and he’s done wonderful things with our players,” Mitchell said.

“You can’t define his contribution in just one area. You can’t just say it was recruiting or player development or relationships with the players or input with schemes. He’s just had a hand in all of it.”

Insell takes over a Rebels program steeped in controversy this season, including a self-imposed post-season ban after the dismissal of first-year head coach Adrian Wiggins and two of his assistant coaches.

The trio was fired after a school investigation found academic and recruiting misconduct, which also made two players ineligible. The NCAA is investigating the program.

The Rebels finished last season 9-20, including a 2-14 mark in conference play. The resurgence of the UK program during Insell’s tenure was a key component in his hiring, Ole Miss Athletic Director Ross Bjork said.

“Being part of a re-building job at the University of Kentucky has enabled Coach Insell to gain the necessary requirements needed of our new staff as we re-capture the legacy that is Lady Rebel Basketball,” Bjork said in a release. “He is the perfect fit to make this happen and we are excited he is joining our team.”

In the same release, Insell promised to help rebuild the Rebels, who return their top two leading scorers in Valencia McFarland and Tia Faleru.

“I just can’t put into words how excited I am to be leading this team,” Insell said in the release. “I promise you this: We are going to put a team on the floor that is going to make the Rebel Nation very happy.”

UK Coach Matthew Mitchell addressed the junior reserve’s status briefly in UK’s news conference Saturday before the second-seeded Cats meet Navy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“We have a standard we want to uphold as Kentucky basketball players and she just hasn’t been doing that,” Mitchell explained. “It’s not one particular thing, it’s just a series of things.”

And those things led to the 6-foot-3 junior reserve from Bardstown being left home for at least these first two rounds of the tournament and likely the remainder.

“We want her to always strive to do her best,” Mitchell continued. “That’s not happening right now, so we need to try to see if we can create a situation where we can motivate her to do her best.”

The former Nelson County standout had played in 27 of UK’s 32 games this season and was averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds a contest. She had been a part of the second wave of five subs Mitchell had started using a few games ago and her numbers had increased.

“It’s unfortunate for her, unfortunate for our team,” Mitchell said. “We’ll see what the future holds for Sam. It’s just a series of things that aren’t happening, that need to be happening.”

Junior forward Samantha Drake did not make the trip with the team and has been suspended indefinitely for “not upholding team standards,” team spokesman Susan Lax said Friday night.

No. 2 seed Kentucky will meet Navy in the first round on Sunday afternoon at Carnesecca Arena. If the Cats (27-5) advance, they will meet the winner of the game between Dayton and host St. John’s on Tuesday night.

Drake, a former Nelson County standout who had her jersey retired there in December, was averaging just 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds a game this season, but she had seen her minutes increase recently as Coach Matthew Mitchell had moved to the pattern of subbing five for five late in the season.

In the past five games, Drake had averaged 12 minutes a game and improved her scoring average to 3.6 points.

Drake has played in 84 career games with 23 starts, but none this season with McDonald’s All-American transfers Samarie Walker and DeNesha Stallworth taking on bigger roles.

So far this season, Drake had played in 27 of UK’s 32 games this season and was shooting 58.3 percent from the field.

The 6-foot-3 forward’s season high for points was nine, which she last had against Vanderbilt at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Three different times this season she has pulled down four rebounds.

Looking ahead, league leading Tennessee has four of its last six games at home and just two ranked opponents left on the schedule No. 16 Texas A&M and at No. 8 Kentucky. Those are the Lady Vols’ final two games of the regular season.

Five of Kentucky’s last seven games are on the road and the Cats have games against four ranked opponents left on their schedule: versus No. 13 Georgia, versus No. 15 South Carolina, at No. 16 Texas A&M (Big Monday game) and versus No. 9 Tennessee in the season finale at Memorial Colisuem.

Each of the first head coaches for each sport will be given the Susan B. Feamster “Pioneer Award,” presented annually by UK’s first women’s basketball coach for providing exceptional leadership and paving the way for others. These coaches will be honored as a part of the 40-year celebration of Title IX.

Kentucky’s first varsity coaches:

• Sue Feamster, basketball
• Suzie Stammer, field hockey
• Betty Rider, golf
• Leah Little, gymnastics
• Delphine Nemeth, volleyball
• Claudia Young, tennis
• Harold Barnett, track and field

• Suzie Stammer started the program, which earned varsity status in 1974. She was a two-time league Coach of the Year and won several state and regional championships. Stammer has gone on to officiate the sport at the Olympics, World Games and for the World Hockey Federation.
• Leah Little coached gymnastics for 28 years at UK, producing numerous SEC champions and Pan-American athletes.
•  Delphine Nemeth, a former Olympic volleyball player, won three SEC titles and twice guided UK to the NCAA Elite Eight. She also won Coach of the Year honors three years.
•  Claudia Young was the first woman to oversee men’s and women’s tennis at Kentucky and was a two-time Coach of the Year. Young held the position for 10 seasons before retiring to teach.
•  Harold Barnett was the first man to coach a women’s team at Kentucky, where he won several KWIC state titles and Coach of the Year honors. He sent more than 20 athletes to track and field championships.

With Cal’s upset over Stanford on Sunday, UK and its 15-game win streak seized the No. 5 spot in the national poll.

The highest Kentucky has ever been rated is No. 4, a spot it had for two separate weeks in 1983.

Kentucky is behind No. 1 Baylor (14-1), No. 2 Notre Dame (14-1), No 3 Connecticut (14-1) and No. 4 Duke (15-0).

UK (15-1) and the Blue Devils share the nation’s longest win streak at 15. The Cats have two straight home games this week, first against Mississippi State and then Auburn before going on the road to No. 19 South Carolina.

The Devils’ streak may be in jeopardy next week when they go on the road to UConn.

Other Southeastern Conference teams in this week’s poll include No. 9 Tennessee, No. 13 Georgia, the Gamecocks and No. 20 Texas A&M.

“The blow to her head was not a major concussion or anything, so that was good news,” Coach Matthew Mitchell said. “She’s in a splint right now and we’re looking at 10-14 days, so that’s probably going to be about three or four games.”

Bishop will be able to shoot and do some cardio for the next week or two, Mitchell said.

“We don’t have time to put them on; we just have to get up and go. I’m probably not smart enough to read one or anything or even know what one looks like.”

He thought for another second or two, then added: “They probably should hook me up to one, that’s what probably they should do.”