The sixth-ranked University of Florida women's basketball team survived an error-prone evening and defeated Arkansas 75-64 at Bud Walton Arena before a crowd of 3,412 to improve to 20-2 overall, 8-1 in the Southeastern Conference. The Lady Razorbacks fell to 15-8, 5-5 in the SEC.
Florida committed a season-high 27 turnovers, but its defense limited Arkansas to a shooting performance of 30.0 percent for the game. The Lady Gators also outrebounded the Lady Razorbacks 48-37 during the game, including a 27-15 advantage in the second half.
The Lady Gator win, which was its seventh straight, marked the eighth 20- win season in program history and the seventh time Florida has won 20 games under Coach Carol Ross. This is the quickest Florida has reached the 20-win plateau in the 28-year history of the program.
The Lady Gators now can turn their full attention to Sunday's showdown against No. 2-ranked Tennessee. With a 9-0 league record, the Lady Vols are the only team undefeated in SEC play. Florida is one-game back in second place. The winner will have the inside track at the top-seed for the SEC Tournament and the regular season conference title. Tip-off in the O'Connell Center in Gainesville at 5:00 p.m. ET.
"I thought we were very fortunate at halftime to go into the lockerroom with the lead," UF head coach
Carol Ross said. "We had players in foul trouble, committed too many turnovers but we did shoot the ball well. Because we kept turning the ball over, we didn't get as many shots as we would have liked."
Brandi McCain's 18 points and eight assists led five Lady Gators scoring double-figures.
Tamara Stocks added 15 points with nine rebounds, while
Vanessa Hayden tallied 14 points,
Naomi Mobley contributed 12 points with 11 rebounds and
Tombi Bell chipped in 10 points. Mobley's double-double was her 11th this season.
"There wasn't any one player for us who was really hot tonight but we have enough talent that allowed different players to step up on different trips and contribute," Ross said.
Arkansas' Dana Cherry led all scorers with 23 points, while Lonniya Bragg added 11 in the loss.
Florida opened the second half with a 11-4 run to extend its seven-point halftime lead to 17 points (49-32) with 16:48 remaining. But Arkansas countered with a 9-1 run to cut the Lady Gator's lead to nine (52-43) with 11:46 on the clock. UF got a boost off the bench from Vanessa Hayden, who tallied six consecutive points. Brandi McCain followed with a 3-pointer to lift UF's lead back to 15 (61-46) with 7:57.
The Lady Razorbacks rallied by hitting a pair of 3-pointers during a 12-4 run which again cut UF's lead to seven points (63-56) with 5:21 remaining in the game. The teams traded baskets during the ensuing six trips down the floor, as the Lady Gators clung to that seven-point advantage (69-62) with 2:04 on the clock.
The teams exchanged points over the first six minutes of the game and with Florida leading 10-9, Tombi Bell hit her first of two 3-pointers during 13- 3 run that gave the Lady Gators a 23-12 advantage. Florida extended that lead to 14 points, 33-19, with 5:05 remaining in the period after Brandi McCain hit a running 8-foot jumper, but that would be the last field goal the Lady Gators connected on in the period. Arkansas ripped off a 9-0 run to close within five (33-28) with just under two minutes remaining. Tamara Stocks added a pair of free throws with 1:24 on the clock to end the scoring, as Florida took a 35-28 halftime lead.
Arkansas shot just 22.2 percent from the floor in the first half but stayed in the game thanks to a 12-for-18 effort from the free throw line. The Lady Razorbacks also outrebounded the Lady Gators in the first half 22- 21, which included an impressive 13 offensive rebounds. Florida managed to hit 51.9 percent from the floor, but turned the ball over 16 times after averaging 15.4 per game entering tonight's outing.
Vanessa Hayden blocked two shots in tonight's game and upped her season total to 44, which set a new UF freshman record for blocks that was set by DeLisha Milton in 1994.
Senior Tamara Stocks was in the starting lineup for the 116th time in her career, tying her with DeLisha Milton, who set UF's all-time mark for starting assignments from 1993-97.
