Junior Brandi McCain (Silsbee, TX) scored a career-high 35 points leading the University of Florida women's basketball team past a pesky West Virginia squad 96-70 Wednesday night at WVU Coliseum.
The 5-0 start is the Lady Gator's best since the 1995-96 season, when UF ripped off nine consecutive victories. UF will try to extend its perfect season on Sunday, Dec. 3, when the Lady Gators play host to 11th-ranked Penn State in the O'Connell Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults, while all UF students and youth age 17 and under are free.
"To Brandi McCain's credit, she could have scored 50 points tonight but she kept passing the ball inside to our posts in the first half," UF head coach Carol Ross said.
Florida survived a game of runs, finally putting the battle out of reach mid-way through the second half with the help of a 11-0 spree to take an 83-60 lead with 6:01 remaining.
"This game was not one to build on, it was one to move on from because this was not a pretty game," Ross said. "But we're happy to get through the month of November with a 5-0 record. That was our goal."
Freshman Vanessa Hayden (Orlando, FL) recorded the second double-double of her young career, contributing 13 points with 12 rebounds.
"I challenged out post players at halftime because they didn't play as we had hoped," Ross said. "They responded and had a much better second half."
UF's other two post players recorded double-figures, with Naomi Mobley (Jacksonville, FL) scoring 16 points with nine rebounds and senior Tamara Stocks (Pickerington, OH) netting 14.
Senior Tombi Bell (Miami, FL) dished a game-high nine assists and collected seven rebounds and five steals in the win.
West Virginia (2-2) struggled against the Lady Gator's quickness and speed, especially on the defensive end where the Mountaineers committed 33 turnovers in the game.
Kate Bulger led West Virginia with 21 points, while Alisha Bogan added 16 and Darya Kudryavtseva chipped in 14.
Florida shot 45.1 percent from the floor for the game, including hitting 56 percent in the second half.
Florida led 41-33 at halftime, but Alisha Bogan got WVU the first points of the second half as the Lady Gator's lead shrunk to six. However for the second time in the game, McCain hit a three-point to spark a double-digit run, as UF ran off 10 straight to take a 51-35 lead with 18:12 remaining. The Mountaineers then responded with a 7-0 run of their own with five coming from Bulger to get within nine, 51-42.
Florida rallied with a 13-0 run of its own on six points from Stocks, as the Lady Gators took a 64-64 advantage with 13:30 remaining in the game. But West Virginia refused to quit and rolled off the next big run of the game, using a 12-2 run to close within 12 points, 66-54 with 10:55 to go.
Four of West Virginia's first five field goals were three-pointers, allowing the Mountaineers to stay within striking distance and never letting Florida extend much of a lead through the first 10 minutes of the game. With the Lady Gators leading 18-17, McCain hit back-to-back three-pointers to spark a 15-0 run over the next three-plus minutes to give UF a 33-17 lead.
West Virginia slowly chipped away at the 16-point deficit, as Kudryavtseva hit a three-pointer to begin a 10-2 run, as Florida's lead slipped to just six, 39-33, with under a minute to play in the first half. Kudryavtseva's trey was the only field goal during the run, as WVU hit 7-of-8 from the free throw line. The Lady Gators ended the half scoring the final bucket of the game, as McCain directed a fastbreak that Mobley finished just before the horn expired, as UF look a 41-33 halftime advantage.
