Junior guard
Brandi McCain (Silsbee, Tex./Silsbee) scored 19 points to lead a balanced offensive attack and the 19th-ranked Florida Lady Gators (10-1) to a 100-54 victory over the Tennessee State Lady Tigers (1-8) in the first round of the 11th Annual State Farm Classic at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Friday night. Florida's 100 points is a record for the Classic. The previous record was 96 scored by Florida in 1998 against California.
Tennessee State plays Ohio (3-7) Friday night at 5 p.m. in the third place game, while Florida battles seventh-ranked Rutgers (8-1) for the championship at 7:30 p.m.
Florida's game was close throughout most of the first half. The Lady Gators led by just two at 11-9, before going on a 26-14 run to push their lead to 37-23 with six minutes to go in the half. TSU rallied to cut the lead to nine at 39-30, but the Lady Gators came back to lead by 11at the half at 48-37.
Florida opened the second half with a devastating 31-3 run in the first 10 minutes of the half to increase its lead to 79-40 en route to its first 100-point scoring game since February 11, 1999, when the Lady Gators topped Florida State 106-89.
"This game was a tale of two halves," UF head coach
Carol Ross said. "The first half was very mediocure basketball but we played outstanding in the second half. I based that statement on our defense performance. It was a thing of beauty to watch. We completely dominated them in the second half."
"All season we have been having second half problems," TSU head coach Valencia Jordan said. "Florida did turn it up a notch. We tried to stop it from turning into a tide and instead it became a typhoon. We couldn't stop it. Playing a SEC team is always an experience, but sometimes it is a hurtful one."
For Florida, McCain was following in scoring by
Naomi Mobley (Jacksonville, Fla./Ed White),
Tamara Stocks (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington) and
Sherisha Hills (Tampa, Fla./Academy of the Holy Names), who all scored 18 points. Hills' total was a career-high. Mobley also had 16 rebounds, registering her fourth double double of the season and 18th of her career.
In the night's first game, the seventh-ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-1) defeated the Ohio University Bobcats (3-7) by a score of 75-49. Ohio's 49 points was the second lowest total by a team in the history of the State Farm Classic. The lowest total is 47 scored by Iowa State in 1991. The Scarlet Knights were led by senior center Tammy Sutton-Brown with a career-high 22 points. Karlita Washington scored 17 points for Rutgers, while Kourtney Walton scored 13 and Tasha Pointer added 10. Lori Moorman led the Bobcats with 18 points.
"This team did a great job," Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said. "We did a good job of blocking out. It was good for us to have different players show up in this game."
"We missed too many shots and then they ran on us," Ohio head coach Lynn Bria said. "I think in the first half we executed a good plan. We took the paint away from them. I have no complaints about our first half and against a great team. Our offense just couldn't score. Defensively we couldn't play them man to man so we stayed in the zone. We played the game to see if we could get an upset. We had no pressure, the pressure was all on them. Rutgers is an incredible team. I'm impressed and believe they could be in the final four again. They have offensive weapons and defensively they are great."
