Senior Monique Cardenas scored a career-high 19 points and sophomore Vanessa Hayden contributed 15 points with 18 rebounds leading 15th-ranked Florida to a 70-61 victory over 17th-ranked Auburn at Beard-Eaves Coliseum.
"This was a great win for us on the road against a top-25 team in the SEC," UF head coach Carol Ross said. "I loved the effort of our players and how they bounced back from a tough and humbling loss to Tennessee in our last game."
The win evened Florida's SEC record to 1-1, and 11-4 overall, while the Tigers fell to 12-2 overall and 0-1 in SEC action.
This was the second most points Auburn has allowed this season. Iowa State tallied 80 in overtime handing the Tigers their only other loss this year.
Auburn ripped out of the halftime locker and hit two quick shots to cut UF's 9-point lead to five (35-30) but the Lady Gators answered with jumpers from Courtney Cooper and Monique Cardenas. After the teams traded baskets, Auburn went on an 8-1 run to 14:28 remaining in the game. Brandi McCain, who finished the game with 11 points, then hit a 3-pointer for Florida, but the Tigers went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game (50-49) with 11:31 to go. AU continued that spree with another bucket and a pair of free throws to take a 54-49 advantage with 10:05 to go.
UF's leading scorer and rebounder Vanessa Hayden was whistled for her third personal foul with 16:45 remaining and the Lady Gators leading 41-35. With Hayden on the bench, Auburn outscored UF 19-8 to take the lead.
Hayden re-entered the game and Florida chipped away at Auburn's five-point lead with shots in the paint and from the free throw line, hitting 11-for-12 during a 20-5 game-ending run to re-take the lead and build a 70-59 advantage.
"When Vanessa went out of the game we lost control of the paint on both ends of the floor," Ross said. "Even though we had a bad run of defensive rebounding during that stretch, we didn't let the game get too out of control and were able to battle back."
Florida shot a season-high 72.0 percent from the free throw line for the game, hitting 18-of-25. Auburn hit 6-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Auburn's Le'Coe Willingham recorded her ninth career double-double and her second this season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Carol Smith scored 14 points and Tia Miller added 13 points in a losing cause.
Florida opened the game shooting 2-for-10, while Auburn hit 1-of-10, as the Lady Gators took a 6-3 lead early. Then both teams started heating up from the outside as the Tigers evened the score at 10-all with 11:56 on the first half clock. From there the Lady Gators went on a 10-2 run with scoring from four different players to extend their lead to eight points (20-12).
Carol Smith stopped UF's run with a 3-pointer, but Sherisha Hills answered with a trey and Courtney Cooper followed with a short jumper to give UF a 10-point advantage (25-15) with 6:48 on the clock. Smith tallied another 3-pointer for the Tigers and the two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half with neither team able to make a run, as the Lady Gators entered the locker room with a 35-26 advantage.
During the opening 20 minutes Florida held a decisive rebounding advantage, collecting 29 compared to Auburn's 16. The Lady Gators also recovered from their early game shooting woes to average 41.9 percent (13-of-31) from the floor in the opening half, while the Tigers shot just 31.4 percent (11-of-35).
Florida next travels to Baton Rouge to play No. 23 LSU on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. ET.
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