From 'Anthony Epps' daughter' to Hall of Famer, Makayla Epps among Kentucky's 'first cobblestones'

There is an iconic photo of Anthony Epps holding his two-year-old daughter on Senior Night, a celebration of four successful seasons at Kentucky that included two Final Fours and a national championship in 1996. The little girl is wearing a cheerleader uniform with blue and white clips in her hair, dad as proud as can be with his arms tightly wrapped around her.

The two would pose together for a photograph at Rupp Arena once again nearly three decades later, but this time, the spotlight would be on that girl who once lit up the room as a happy toddler. Makayla Epps doesn’t know how it happened, but she was being inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame — and beating her old man to the honor, no less.

The ’96 national champion would go on to raise one of the best women’s basketball players to ever wear the uniform, Epps becoming a three-time First-Team All-SEC member while sitting in the program’s top 10 list for scoring (1,790 points, No. 6), games played (133, No. 6), field goals made (No. 6, 668), assists (408, No. 8), free throws made (353, No. 8) and scoring average (13.5, No. 10). The First-Team All-American in 2016 helped the Wildcats win 97 total games in her career with four straight NCAA Tournament appearances under Matthew Mitchell — a legend in every sense of the word.

Now, she’s immortalized as a Hall of Famer.

“Just to be in that cheerleading suit and that dress with him on his Senior Day, and now he’s here with me as I’m getting inducted into the Hall of Fame? Just a true full-circle family moment for us,” Epps said of her prestigious honor and having dad by her side on her big night. “It’s something that neither one of us could have guessed. I was assuming he would get in, but he didn’t and I beat him, so we love that [laughs].”

To his credit, he got the national title status she always wanted with that ’96 banner forever hanging in the rafters of Rupp Arena. And he’ll always be the person she looked up to most on the basketball floor, walking as a Wildcat first so she could run — albeit on her own path.

“He did the national championship thing and when I came to Kentucky, it was on my mind. I wanted that for the women’s program. Even though it didn’t happen, he’s always been my biggest fan. It wasn’t to beat him or follow directly in his footsteps. He created the pathway and I just followed it the best I could.”

Their last names are the same with winning at the highest level in their DNA, but while Anthony was a key contributor on a loaded roster playing in front of a sold-out crowd every night, Makayla was the face of an era of Kentucky women’s basketball and put butts in seats herself thanks to her electric style of play and vibrant personality. Must-see entertainment during her time in Lexington, she takes pride in her personal impact as one of the key trailblazers of the program, joining the likes of Valerie Still, Patty Jo Hedges-Ward, Stacey Reed, Victoria Dunlap, A’dia Mathies and Rhyne Howard among all-timers.

Their combined success led to the biggest investment in women’s sports facilities in school history with a $82 million renovation of Historic Memorial Coliseum, coming alongside the hire of Kenny Brooks — who brought 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and a Final Four with him to Lexington.

If you build it, they will come, right?

“It’s just so surreal. As soon as I got to Lexington today, I went to campus and saw Coach Brooks and the girls, saw them practice,” Epps said. “… That’s what me and him were talking about. I love that he’s the Kentucky women’s basketball head coach. I think they’re in great hands for as long as he hopes to be here and I hope it’s a long time. But just the upgrades and the facilities and Memorial and women’s basketball as a whole on the WNBA level and the college level, it has grown exponentially over the years, even from the short time I’ve been out of college.

“I love to see women’s basketball progressing and moving in the right way. When you talk about Kentucky, I’m just glad that I was one of the first cobblestones. Then the Rhyne Howards and your Georgia Amoores and Clara Stracks and whoever else we may get in the future. I love it.”

She did it all as a Kentucky kid, born and raised — as she told the new Wildcats in her homecoming at the Joe Craft Center this weekend. Straight out of Marion County, the heart of Lebanon, she grew up bleeding blue and got to watch all of her dreams come true wearing the same jersey as her dad.

Home sweet home! 🏡💙 pic.twitter.com/TdtiWMwslD

— Kentucky Women’s Basketball (@KentuckyWBB) September 15, 2025

The 5-10 guard saw the impact her father made and used it as inspiration to write her own story. One can argue she even one-upped him, considering there’s only one Epps in the Hall of Fame as things stand today.

“It means a little bit more to me being a Kentucky kid from Kentucky, wearing the blue and white, understanding the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry. I know exactly what that means, stuff like that,” she said.
“I just wanted to come in and make my mark.

“When I first came to Kentucky, I was known as Anthony Epps’ daughter. I think that now today, he’s known as Makayla Epps’ dad. We kind of flipped the narrative a little bit and that’s all I wanted.”

Who wore the No. 25 jersey better? I’m going with the kid.