Junior guard
Brandi McCain (Silsbee, Tex./Silsbee) scored a game-high 28 points and dished out nine assists to lead the unranked University of Florida women's basketball team to a 92-79 upset victory over 11th-ranked Penn State (3-3) at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Sunday night. The win, which was the Lady Gator's eighth consecutive home victory, marked the 20th time Florida has defeated a higher ranked team in the 11 years under head coach
Carol Ross.
"This was a good win for the Gators against a great team," Ross said. "Defensively, we stayed aggressive which set the tone for us. Offensively, we established the tempo with our running game. We wanted to play all 94 feet because we felt the quickness of our guards would be hard to defend."
After falling behind 5-2 early in the first half, the Lady Gators used a 14-0 run to jump out to an 18-6 lead at the 15:30 mark. Three-pointers by McCain and senior guard
Tombi Bell (Miami/Miami Norland) helped spark the run. The Lady Lions made a late run to cut Florida's lead to one at 40-39 with 2:52 remaining in the opening period on two free throws by Courtney Upshaw. The Lady Gators outscored Penn State 11-5 the rest of the half to take a 51-44 lead into halftime.
Florida started the second half off by stretching its lead to 17 points at 65-48 with 14:10 remaining in the game. The Lady Lions slowly chipped away and cut the lead to 10 points, 83-73, with 3:44 remaining, but couldn't get any closer as both teams traded free throws the rest of the game.
Both teams combined to shoot 73 free throws, as 51 fouls were called during the game. The Lady Gators shot exactly 50 percent from the field for the game, hitting 31-of-62 shots. Penn State shot just 33.8 percent (23-for-68), including 29 percent in the second half. Florida was outrebounded for the first time this season, as the Lady Lions won the battle on the boards 48-43.
Following McCain in the scoring column was Bell, who tied her career-high with 24 points, and junior forward
Naomi Mobley (Jacksonville, Fla./Ed White), who recorded 18 points with 11 rebounds to notch her 16th career double-double and her second this season.
"The team worked very hard to prepare for this game tonight. For those of us who suffered through last year's game, we had a little more incentive during practice and it paid off," said Ross, who referred to last year's 91-67 loss to Penn State in State College, Pa.
Penn State was led by Lisa Shepherd, who scored 25 points and Kelly Mazzante, who added 16. Maren Walseth scored 13 points and Rashana Barnes added 10 for the Lady Lions.
Florida will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 9, when they host the Central Florida Golden Knights. Tip off for the game is set for 7 p.m. at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
