George Washington used a 22-5 run midway through the second half to hand the Florida women's basketball team a 74-55 loss Sunday afternoon at the Charles E. Smith Center. The loss, which was the Gators' sixth consecutive loss, marked the Colonial's eighth straight win in a row.
Florida, now 8-10 overall, lost its sixth straight game for the first time since the 1979-80 season, when the team lost a program-record seven consecutive before ending the skid.
The Gators committed 23 turnovers in the loss, while shooting 39.7 percent (23-58) from the floor. UF did manage to win the rebounding battle, 36-31. Bernice Mosby scored a team-high 17 points with eight rebounds, while Sarah Lowe added 12. Dalila Eshe continued her solid post play, contributing eight points and eight rebounds in the loss.
For the first time in the 29-year history of the program, Florida started a women's basketball game with five freshmen on the floor. This was the 10th different starting lineup of the season and the fourth consecutive game Coach Peck has opened with a different five.
"I thought that the freshmen responded well," UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. "I liked the freshmen all out there together. Our defensive intensity was at a whole different level tonight and the freshmen had a lot to do with that."
GW (12-5) shot 50.0 percent (30-60) from the floor during the game, hitting 15-of-29 in the second half with the majority of the shots coming from long-range jumpers, and ended the game with seven 3-pointers. Ugo Oha led a balanced attack for the Colonials, scoring 17 on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor. Cathy Joens added 14 points, while Lindsey Davidson and Greeba Outen Barlow each tallied 11 in the win.
The loss marked the 10th consecutive game the Gators have played without their All-American center Vanessa Hayden, who has been out since December 7, when she fractured her left fibula. Prior to Sunday's game, the Gators have been outrebounded by 13.4 per game in Hayden's absence.
Florida opened the second half committing four consecutive turnovers, but GW only was able to capitalize on one of those, missing open shots on the ensuing possessions and netting three points, taking a 35-22 lead. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes until Brittany Davis and Bernice Mosby hit back-to-back shots for the Gators to cut the deficit to nine points (39-30) with under 13 minutes left in the game.
But Lindsey Davidson answered with a trey for GW which ignited a devastating 22-5 run that ballooned the Colonials lead to 26 points (61-35) with just over seven minutes remaining. GW connected on four 3-pointers during the stretch, two from Davidson and a pair from Cathy Joens, as the Colonials pulled away for the win.
Both teams played even basketball for the first 10 minutes of the game, but with the score tied at 10-all, GW's Greeba Outen Barlow nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key and followed that with another jumper to spark a quick 7-0 run that lasted just over one minute as the Colonials took a 17-10 lead. Danielle Santos stopped the Gator scoring drought with a long pull-up jumper, but GW countered with four more points to extend its run to 11-2 and assume a nine-point advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the half. The teams basically traded baskets for the final minutes of the period, as UF got scoring from Bernice Mosby, Sarah Lowe, Brittany Davis and Dalila Eshe, who hit a long jumper with six seconds remaining. However, Lindsey Davidson canned a 3-pointer from the top of the arc as the halftime horn sounded to give GW a 32-22 lead entering the locker room.
During the opening 20 minutes of play, the Gators held a 20-15 rebounding advantage, but turned the ball over 11 times and shot 37.9 percent (11-29) from the floor. The Colonials shots a steady 48.4 percent (15-31) from the field and committed just six miscues en route to the halftime lead.
Florida returns to SEC action on Thursday, January 30, when the team travels to Columbia, SC to face No. 15 South Carolina.
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