Florida Gators
Premier Players (Exh.)
Hayden Paces Balanced WBB win in Exhibition Game
Friday, November 7, 2003 | Women's Basketball
The University of Florida women's basketball team opened its 2003-04 season with an impressive 114-79 exhibition win over Premier Players Thursday night at the Stephen C O'Connell Center.
Seven different Gators tallied a double-figure scoring effort, with 12 of the 13 who played getting on the scoreboard. Senior All-American Vanessa Hayden (Orlando, Fla.) led all scorers with 18 points in addition to snaring eight rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
Tashia Morehead (Panama City Pa.) had an impressive debut wearing the Orange and Blue, netting 17 points in 20 minutes. Tamia Williams (West Palm Beach, Fla.) added 14 points with four assists, while Tishona Gregory (Romulus, Mich.) netted 12 points with five assists. Also reaching double figures was Sarah Lowe (Wynnewood, Pa.), Brittany Davis (Gainesville, Fla.) and Dalila Eshe (Tallahassee, Fla.), scoring 11, 10 and 10, respectively. Eshe added a game-high 12 rebounds to her stat line, while Davis collected eight boards with four assists.
Alicica Abernathy and Rita Adams each scored 15 in the loss for the Premier Players (2-3), who were playing their fifth game in as many days.
A furious pace marked the first half as the Gators raced to 48-43 halftime lead.
"We were pushing the ball up the floor to get easy buckets," Lowe said. "We have been working on that in practice and it showed tonight."
The rapid pace continued in the second half as Florida extended its 48-43 halftime lead to 81-61 at the 10-minute mark. Freshman Kim Dye (Fayetteville, Tenn.) added five second-half points in her first appearance as a Gator, showing UF's depth off the bench.
"When we went to our bench we didn't lose anything," Florida Head Coach Carolyn Peck said. "We were able to keep the momentum going. We never lost a step with any substitutions that were made. We have a lot of different weapons this year."
The 114-point outburst marks the first time the Gators broke the 100-point mark since Dec. 28, 2000 against Tennessee State. The output nearly doubled the average point total from last season, when UF.
The Gators return to action Tuesday against Team Concept at the O'Connell Center in their final exhibition game before the regular season. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
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