Junior guard
Brandi McCain (Silsbee, Tex./Silsbee) scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Florida Lady Gators to a 79-65 victory in their home opener against the Florida State Lady Seminoles (1-1) at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Tuesday night. The victory was Florida's 36th consecutive win over a team from the Sunshine State. UF now stands at 49-4 under Carol Ross against in-state opposition.
"It was a great win against a very good team," Florida head coach
Carol Ross said. "Obviously, it's a big game for a lot of reasons. Number one, it's our home opener. That's probably the most important factor in this game because we wanted to get off to a good start in terms of defending our home turf and making a statement. Our home schedule is challenging and it's important that we take care of business here in the O-Dome. Number two, it's the Gators and Seminoles, which is always a little added side bar that gets some attention. And third, it was an ugly win against a quality opponent. So, if you can win when things aren't going exactly your way and overcome adversity, I think it helps in maturing a team and I think this was a very good, tough home opening win for this club."
The Lady Gators (2-0) got off to a quick start in the first half, jumping out to a 6-2 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by junior McCain. After Florida State (1-1) came back to tie the game at 6-6, the Lady Gators went on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 15-8. Florida went on to lead by as much as 10 points at 23-13, but the Lady Seminoles came back to make it a six-point game at the half with Florida leading 40-34.
In the second half, Florida increased its lead to 14 at 50-36 and 57-43 before FSU cut the lead to six at 68-62. Florida then pulled aw
ay for the 79-65 win, its 13th consecutive over the Seminoles. McCain was followed by senior guard
Tombi Bell (Miami/Miami Norland) with 17 points and junior forward
Naomi Mobley (Jacksonville, Fla./Ed White) with 11. Mobley also added 11 rebounds to notch her 15th career double-double. Freshman center
Vanessa Hayden (Orlando, Fla./Boone) snared 11 points.
Florida State was led by Brooke Wyckoff with 23 points. April Traylor added 17 points for the Lady Seminoles.
The Lady Gators will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 24 when they take on Harvard in the Dead River County Classic in Orono, Maine. Tip off is set for 4:30 p.m.
