Florida Gators
Elon
Women's Hoops Returns Home for Big Win over Elon
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 | Women's Basketball
Shooting a season-high 52.9% from the field Tuesday night, the No. 20-ranked Florida women's basketball team proved there is no place like home, cruising to a 81-53 win against Elon (3-6) in front of 1,249 fans at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The win, which improved the Lady Gator's overall record to 7-3, was the team's first home game in 32 days.
Senior Monique Cardenas (Keystone Heights, FL) had game-highs with her 17 points and 11 rebounds to give her the first double-double of her career. Cardenas scored eight straight points to fuel a 17-3 late first half run to break open a 17-15 game at the 9:28 mark of the first half. A Tishona Gregory (Romulus, MI) runner in the lane capped off the stellar first half as the buzzer sounded to give the Gators a comfortable 38-21 lead.
Florida Coach Carol Ross was pleased with her team's shooting success, but thought the team could have fared better defensively.
"We had great shot selection offensively and it was great to see the two seniors have double-doubles," Ross said following the game. "It was a game I knew we were going to win, but I wanted to do it defensively."
All-American point guard Brandi McCain (Silsbee, TX) joined Cardenas in the double-double category, recording the fifth of her career with a season-high 11 assists and 12 points. Six of her assists came in the first half, including a give-and-go with guard Tara Taylor (Huntsville, AL) in traffic with 6:19 left in the first half. McCain also did the job defensively, doing her best impression of a defensive back in intercepting an Elon inbound pass and laying it up, breaking a 14-14 tie and putting the Gatos up for good.
The Phoenix were led by Holly Andrews' 13 points and Anestha Blakeney's eight points.
Elon coach Brenda Paul was impressed with Florida's, particularly center Vanessa Hayden (Orlando, FL).
"It seemed like they were all over the floor, and they had their hands everywhere," Paul said. [Hayden] is a tremendous player who blocks a lot of shots and makes it difficult to get around."
Hayden scored 15 points with seven rebounds and had two blocks in only 18 minutes before fouling out midway through the second half.
Florida returns to action Friday, December 21 as they host 12th ranked Colorado. Tip-Off is set for 7:00 p.m ET at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
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