Florida center Vanessa Hayden was plenty rested to lead a second half comeback for the 18th-ranked Gators, and she did just that in helping the Gators to a 75-73 win in front of 2,186 fans at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center Sunday afternoon.
Hayden scored 12 second half points on her way to 16 for the afternoon to help the Gators erase a four-point halftime deficit. The win improves Florida's record to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in SEC play. Ole Miss drops to 9-9 overall and 1-4 in SEC play.
Foul trouble limited Hayden to only four minutes in the first half, and Ole Miss was able to assemble a commanding 36-26 lead with 4:40 remaining in the first half. Hayden helped the Gators to their largest lead of the game at 66-55 with 9:16 left in regulation, but Ole Miss launched a 15-6 run to trim Florida's lead to 72-70 with 1:18 remaining.
The game concluded under strange circumstances, with the Gators leading 75-73 with three seconds left in regulation and Florida guard Brandi McCain on the free throw line in a one-and-one situation. The All-American missed the free throw, but Ole Miss apparently thought it was a two-shot foul and as a Lady Rebel grabbed the missed shot she tossed it out of bounds towards an official.
Florida coach Carol Ross said that she believes the Gators would have won even if Ole Miss had a chance to tie the game after the missed free throw.
"It was unfortunate the game ended that way, but we feel pretty confident that we would have made a play defensively to wrap up the ball game," Ross said. "Ole Miss is a much improved team, but we outplayed them in the second half.
"Consecutive wins for the Gators is huge considering the tough stretch we have coming up."
Florida's 6-foot forward Monique Cardenas, who was forced to play the center position in Hayden's absence during the first half, dished out a career-high seven assists to go along with her 14 points. Junior Courtney Cooper contributed 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals in 39 minutes of action.
The Rebels were led by guard Serika Wright's game-high 21-point, nine-rebound effort.
Ole Miss coach Ron Aldy said he was disappointed with the lack of ball control his team showed. Florida forced 24 turnovers against the Rebels and were able to score 20 points as a result.
"We had several breakdowns and turnovers that were very lax and nonchalant on our part," Aldy said. "That was the difference in the game; those crucial, costly, untimely turnovers hurt us."
McCain kept the Gators within striking distance in the absence of Hayden, and she scored the Gators' last four points of the first half to send Florida into the locker-room trailing 38-34.
McCain finished with 17 points and five assists, two of which came on no-look passes to freshman guard Tamia Williams on consecutive trips down the floor early in the game.
Florida returns to action Thursday, January 24 when the team travels to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. The game will feature two of the best low-post players in the country with Florida's Vanessa Hayden and Vanderbilt's Chantelle Anderson squaring off. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.
Notes:
The win against Ole Miss improves Florida coach Carol Ross' record against her alma mater to 10-2. Ross was a four-year starter for the Rebels from 1978-81 and was teammates with UF assistant Renee Ladner… Brandi McCain's five assists give her 102 for the season, marking the third time the senior has eclipsed the 100-assist mark in a season… McCain's 17 points put her over the 1,400-point mark for her career, giving her 1,402 total points… Vanessa Hayden's two blocked shots today gives her 35 consecutive games with a block… Monique Cardenas' seven rebounds put her over the 400 rebound-mark for her career with 406 rebounds… .Cardenas has played in 107 games in her career, giving her more experience than any player on Florida's roster.
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