Florida Gators
BYU (NCAA First Round)
Women's Basketball Ends Season with NCAA 1R Loss
Sunday, March 17, 2002 | Women's Basketball
The University of Florida women's basketball team shot a woeful 15.2 percent from the floor (5-of-33) in the first half, which lead to a 21-point halftime deficit and eventually a 90-52 loss to BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State University campus.
"You have to give BYU an awful lot of credit because they were a step ahead of us on every cut, every shot," UF head coach Carol Ross said. "They executed their offense with extreme precision and were able to hit tough shots and able to hit easy shots. They had an answer for everything we did. We ran about six or seven defenses and they had an answer for every single one of them. If they continue to play that way, they'll probably be in this tournament for a long while."
The Lady Gators, seeded No. 6, lost their third consecutive game and ended the season with an 18-11 overall record. The 11th-seeded Cougars (23-8), who won their seventh straight game, face either the No. 3 seeded Iowa State Cyclones (23-8) or the No. 14 seeded Temple Owls (20-10) in the NCAA Second Round on Monday at 9:36 p.m. CT (10:36 p.m. ET). The Cyclones and Owls tip-off their first round game later Saturday evening.
The 38-point loss easily was UF's worst postseason defeat in the team's nine-year NCAA run. Before tonight's game, the Lady Gators worst NCAA loss was a 69-55 decision against Virginia in the second round of the 1993 Tournament - UF's first appearance in the NCAAs.
BYU led 39-18 at halftime and opened the second period on an 11-0 run to take an insurmountable 32-point lead, 50-18, with 16:40 remaining in the game.
UF senior Brandi McCain scored a team-high 28 points in her collegiate finale. She was the lone Lady Gator who netted double-figure scoring. Courtney Cooper grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds with six points.
UF's leading scorer and rebounder, Vanessa Hayden, was not at all a factor in the game, scoring just four points with eight rebounds in 22 minutes before fouling out.
BYU's Erin Thorn was one of three Cougars who scored in double-figures, leading the way with 28 points. Thorn hit a UF opponent postseason-record seven 3-pointers during the game. Jennifer Leitner scored 17 points with 17 rebounds, while Danielle Cheesman added 13 points.
UF shot just 25.7 percent (18-of-70) for the game, while BYU hit 50.0 percent (32-of-64), including a 58.1 mark in the second half. The Cougars dished an impressive 22 assists and outrebounded the Lady Gators 49-39.
BYU used a 12-0 run over a five-minute span early in the game to take a 25-7 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half. UF's Tishona Gregory hit one free throw to finally stop the run, but Erin Thorn responded with a 3-pointer from the left side to increase the Cougar lead to 20 points (28-8). Brandi McCain then added four straight free throws to cut the lead back to 16 points with 7:58 left. After a defensive stop, McCain hit a 15-foot jumper from the top of the key at the 7:21 mark, UF's first field goal since the 15:20 mark.
But BYU's Thorn showed why she's one of the nation's top 3-point shooters, as she nailed her third and fourth of the half during a 9-0 spree to balloon the Cougar's lead to 23 points (37-14) with 5:06 remaining in the half. Again it was McCain who stopped the run, as she hit a pair from the charity stripe. Jennifer Leitner hit a short jumper for BYU and McCain followed with an acrobatic shot from the lane to end the half's scoring, as the Lady Gators trailed by 21 (39-18).
McCain scored 12 of UF's 18 first half points, as the Lady Gators hit an astonishing 15.2 percent from the floor on 5-of-33 shooting and were outrebounded 27-20. Thorn led a balanced scoring attach for the Cougars, scoring 14 points, as BYU shot 42.4 percent from the floor, including a 6-of-13 effort from the 3-point line. The Cougars dished 10 assists on their 14 field goals.
FLORIDA NOTES:
*Tied UF record for fewest first-half points scored in an NCAA Tournament game (18)
*UF's 25.7% shooting was its lowest in an NCAA Tournament game (record was 30.6% against Virginia in 1993)
*BYU's 10 three-pointers was the second most by a UF opponent in postseason history
*Brandi McCain tied a UF postseason record for free throws made by a Gator in the postseason (9)
*BYU's six turnovers tied a UF opponent postseason record for fewest in a game
END OF REPORT
