The University of Florida women's basketball team looked and played like an entirely different team than the one that entered Thursday's game on a six-game losing streak. The Gators (8-11, 0-6 SEC) were extremely competitive and much improved, but couldn't overcome an experienced 16th-ranked South Carolina (15-4, 3-3 SEC) squad and lost 78-64 at the Carolina Center in front of 2,135.
"We played extremely hard and there was a lot of progress out there on the floor for us tonight," UF head coach Carolyn Peck said. "We did a better job defensively, but giving up offensive rebounds was the biggest thing that hurt us tonight. We had shots close to the basket that almost fell, and those shots will fall for us."
Florida's All-American center Vanessa Hayden made her much awaited return to the court tonight, checking into the game at the 16:15 mark of the first half for Brittany Davis. Hayden, who last year led the country in blocks and ranked fourth nationally in rebounding, missed the Gator's last 10 games because of injury.
Hayden missed her first six shots from the field, but put back an offensive rebound with 9:10 left in the game to record the first bucket in her return. She also stuffed Kelly Morrone's attempt at the 10:03 mark of the second half to log her first block. Hayden finished the game with five points on 2-of-10 shooting, in addition to grabbing a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes of action.
Bernice Mosby led UF with 16 points and six rebounds, while Sarah Lowe added 12 points. All 10 Gators who saw action tonight scored, as UF shot 36.8 percent from the floor.
UCS's Jocelyn Penn, who entered the game averaging 27 points per game, the second-highest average in the country, finished with a game-high 19 points in addition to 15 rebounds. Cristina Ciocan added 18 points, while Petra Ujhelyi contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds. USC outrebounded UF 46-42, as both teams grabbed 20 on the offensive end.
Florida's seven-game losing streak ties the program record set during the 1979-80 season for the longest such skid.
Florida returns to the court on Sunday, February 2, when the Gators entertain 13th-ranked Mississippi State in the O'Connell Center beginning at 2 p.m.
This was the second consecutive game Florida started with five true freshmen in the lineup.
Florida began the second half on a 7-2 spree, capped by Brittany Davis' three-point play, that closed the Gamecock lead to seven points, 40-33, with 18:22 remaining. But USC exploded on a 16-2 run that included three 3-pointers, as the lead ballooned to 21 points, 56-35, with 11:32 left in the contest. Sarah Lowe finally ended USC's run of eight straight points with a 3-pointer, but Cristina Ciocan answered with one for the Gamecocks, as the Gators just couldn't make up any ground. Every time Florida scored, USC countered with a basket of its own, and this trend continued for the rest of the game. The Gators were able to cut the lead to 13 points with just under one minute remaining, but could not get any closer.
South Carolina ripped out of the gate scoring the first six points of the game within the opening two minutes. Sarah Lowe got the Gators on the board with a back door layup off a feed from Bernice Mosby. Kelly Morrone then connected on her first 3-pointer of the game which gave the Gamecocks a quick 9-2 lead. Florida battled back and cut the lead to three, 11-8, after buckets from Mosby and Danielle Santos before Morrone launched another trey. Dalila Eshe netted a short jumper to get the Gators within four, 14-10, but South Carolina went on a 10-1 run sparked by a pair of 3-pointers from Sarah Burgess, to extend its lead to 13 points (24-11) with just under 11 minutes remaining in the half. The teams traded baskets for the next two-plus minutes, with USC holding a 28-17 advantage with exactly seven minutes remaining.
Neither team could score for the next three and a half minutes until Courtney Cooper drained a 3-pointer from the left side to bring the lead under double figures, 28-20. Burgess missed two free throws on USC's ensuing possession, but the Gamecocks collected the offensive rebound and Petra Ujhelyi made the Gators pay with a soft jumper from the outside. Jocelyn Penn then banked in a 3-pointer to again extend USC's lead to 13. Kelly Stevenson followed with a trey from the right corner, but the Gamecocks went on a mini 5-1 run over the next minute, before Mosby ended the half's scoring with a 4-foot hook shot, as the Gators trailed 38-26.
USC shot 39.4 percent (13-33) from the floor in the opening half, hitting 5-of-15 from the 3-point line and 7-of-10 from the free throw stripe. UF managed 35.5 percent (11-31) shooting, including a 2-of-6 effort from the 3-point line. The Gamecocks held a 23-19 rebounding advantage, which included 11 on the offensive end.
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