Florida Gators
UC Santa Barbara
Women's Hoops Falls to No. 24 UCSB in overtime
Saturday, November 30, 2002 | Women's Basketball
After leading 61-49 with 9:22 remaining in the game, Florida managed just one point for the rest of the contest, as 24th-ranked UCSB tied up the game and forced overtime to rally for a 73-70 win at the Thunderdome. The loss was the first of the season for the young Gators (3-1), who started the overtime period with four freshmen and a sophomore on the court.
Florida committed 18 turnovers in the second half alone, 27 in the game, and were outrebounded 51-38, as the Gauchos collected 21 offensive boards.
UCSB's Jess Hansen hit a fall-away 3-foot jumper from the side with 20 seconds remaining in overtime and then added one free throw with 9.2 second left to give the Gauchos (2-1) a 73-70 advantage. UF set up a play for its final shot, but Bernice Mosby's try from the right side of the arc bounced off as the horn sounded.
"This is a tough loss," UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. "An area that has plagued us all season is offensive rebounding and that was the difference. Our young team played hard. They've never been in the this situation before and I thought they handled themselves great. UCSB clearly had the momentum at the end of the game, but we didn't buckle or show any fear and were able to force overtime."
Sophomore Kelly Stevenson had a career-high 16 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the 3-point line, while freshman Bernice Mosby tallied her second double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Sarah Lowe added 12 points with eight rebounds, while sophomore Tamia Williams scored 12.
UCSB's Kristen Mann led all scorers with 18 points, as she netted seven of the Gauchos' final eight points in regulation to force overtime.
In the overtime stanza, Mann opened the scoring with a short jumper, but Lowe and Danielle Santos countered with buckets to give UF a 66-64 lead with 3:16 remaining. UCSB netted four straight points to take the lead, as the teams traded buckets for the next two minutes until Hansen recorded the final three points of the game for the Gauchos.
Florida used an 8-for-12 effort from the 3-point line to spark a 43-35 halftime lead. The Gators added to that lead by scoring the first seven points of the second half to take a 15-point lead, 50-35. But Lisa Willett canned a trey to ignite a 9-2 spree that was cluttered with Gator turnovers, to cut UF's lead to eight, 52-44 with 14:40 to go. Danielle Santos hit a short jumper before Kristen Mann tagged UF for another trey to shrink the advantage to seven, 54-47. Santos added a backdoor layup that helped a 7-2 run and give the Gators a 12-point lead, 61-49, with 9:22 left. However, more turnovers and poor rebounding c
ontributed to UCSB's 9-1 run, as the Gators' lead shrank to just four, 62-58, with just under six minutes remaining. Neither team scored for almost the next minutes until UCSB's Mann hit a long 3-pointer with 1:55 remaining to bring the Gauchos within one, 62-61. Lindsay Taylor then added one free throw to tie the score with 1:11 left in the contest. Brittany Davis' layup didn't fall on UF's next possession, and UCSB collected the rebound. Kelly Stevenson picked off a Gaucho pass on the other end, and the Gators called a timeout with 32.4 seconds remaining. Sarah Lowe then missed a running 4-foot jumper and UCSB garnered another rebound and raced to the other side of the floor and called timeout with 13.5 seconds on the clock.
Florida came out of the gates with four different players hitting from the floor and opened with a quick 8-2 lead. Mia Fisher came off the bench for UCSB and scored five straight points to spark a 7-0 run and bring the Gauchos within one, 10-9. But Kelly Stevenson and Bernice Mosby each connected on 3-pointers during a 6-2 run as the Gators maintained the lead, before USCB scored the next two buckets to get within one again. But UF came through with a three, this time from Tamia Williams, who scored seven points during UF's ensuing 8-3 run as the Gators lead climbed back to six, 24-18, with just over nine minutes remaining in the half. All this was done with All-American Vanessa Hayden on the bench after picking up two fouls in the first four minutes of the game with UF leading 13-9. UCSB logged the next two field goals to close within one before Tara Taylor hit a 10-foot jumper and Williams sank her second trey of the game. The Gauchos netted three points all from the free throw line before Sarah Lowe and Stevenson canned treys to swell UF's lead to 10 points, 35-25, with 4:40 left in the period. Kristen Mann answered with a 4-0 run for UCSB with a pair of free throws and a field goal at the 3:30 mark, the Gauchos first made shot from the floor in nearly five minutes. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half, capped by Lowe's 12-foot jumper with two seconds left, as the Gators took a 43-35 halftime lead.
Florida continues its two-game West Coast road trip on Sunday, when the team travels to Long Beach State for a 4 p.m. ET, battle against the 49ers. The game will be televised live on Sunshine Network throughout the state of Florida.
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